Second Chance
by 5337281
Summary: She couldn't save her friends, but something has given her a second chance. A chance she'll use to try to save the fate of her friends...   Abandoned, Glaring Plotholes
1. Prolouge

_**Disclaimer: Don't Own Naruto.**_

_**Read it and make me feel good inside. Review and make me feel fuzzy inside.**_

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_**Prologue: What Just Happened?**_

The battle was almost over.

Kohona had exhausted every idea to try and stop the attack; ninja valiantly died evacuating civilians at the last moment. The remaining fought for as long as they could, but Kabuto wasn't stupid. The diversion tactic failed… and the civilians paid the price.

_So much blood._

Glowing hands shook as they hovered over the not-quite-lost ninja, but it was no use. They had failed. He would be back, the civilians would be dead, and the last remaining ninja would be crushed under the sheer numbers of the oto-nin.

The pink-haired girl was currently trying to heal a green-spandex-clad jounin, tears running down her face and dripping onto the body as she watched yet another in a long line of friends die.

"Lee." She whispered, as she _felt _him dieing, the breaths coming in short, erratic gasps as he tried to keep fighting the uphill battle, just like he'd been doing his whole life. Only now he was losing.

_I…have to save chakra for the ninja who will survive… longer._

She thought morbidly as a last sigh escaped Lee. She fought back the bile that rose to her throat as she looked up from her patient. There were bodies everywhere, and the medic-nin who Tsunade had forcibly held back for this moment…but it was not like this would help anyways. To be brought back from the brink of death to die again?

The medic-nin were reviving a small few, not even enough to be an annoyance to the approaching forces.

_No use._

But she got up anyways, moving on to the next ninja, automatically declaring him dead. She moved on, but her mind was strangely detached, and she moved like a zombie through a grave…

_I shouldn't even be alive right now._

… But that's what it was, wasn't it? The last grave of Kohona… sometime in the near future the other hidden villages would move into the land once protected by the Hidden Leaf and Sand. All of the other villages that might have supported them had been crushed before the sound even dared to approach the grand prize.

_Kohona…_

She was the only ninja of the rookie nine left. And that was only because of orders from a Hokage who was drunk half the time.

Shouting. Oto-nin. Not even bothering to hide their…sound. Yes, the few Kohona ninja left were merely an annoyance, a strike in the dark, a failed attempt. They had tried for the last ten years since Sasuke left, but it was no use. After Sasuke left, and Naruto failed to retrieve him in multiple missions, he…

_Don't think about that._

She shook the fuzz partway from her mind, trying to get her thoughts away from her friends. Right now she had to work, no matter how futile. She knelt before a ninja who probably would've preferred to die and tried to revive him enough to fight. No use. The oto-nin were there… nearby, finishing the job. Soon they would get to her. She heard a cry as another medic fell. She stood, resolving herself. She wasn't going to sit there and let herself be killed without a fight. They had taken her friends. She had to give them a favor back.

_I'm going to take him with me._

And she ran. Not away from the slaughter, but towards it. There. The face was the only thing her vision, and she ran towards it, dodging under blows and throwing enemy ninja to the side. She fueled this last run with all the obsessive behavior she used to have over Sasuke, all the annoyance over Naruto, all the faith the others had put into her over ten years.

If she could take anyone else in this army with her, it was going to be the leader of the invasion, Kabuto. Sasuke was dead, Orochimaru was dead, but he wasn't. And he fatally injured Lee in that very same day. She activated her chakra scalpels, and shoved her hand right at his heart as he went to block it. To slow. But he countered right before his heart failed, and Sakura had time for only one thought.

_If only I could've saved them._

-

_**I was going to end the prologue here, but meh… oh well.**_

-

_Is this death?_

Sakura asked herself as she woke… to none other than the _beep beep beep _of an extremely annoying alarm chock.

_No, I think that alarm clocks would've been outlawed in heaven __**or **__hell, way to troublesome. Great, now I sound like…_

She cut that thought off; she would not allow herself to be drawn back to the past.

Sitting up, she immediately felt nauseous and closed her eyes to prevent from throwing up on the bed. _Bed?_

_After the…slaughter? No, because I'd be dead. Then…_

She opened her eyes slowly, taking in the room's interior. The _beeping _in the background was loud, but she barely noticed it. It couldn't be…

_My…room?_

It was! Down to the vanity dresser and closet. Even the colors were the same before the house was burnt down. She ran her hand through her hair, a thinking trait she had picked up, only to realize her bubble-gum pink hair was longer than it had been since the forest of death Cunnin Exams.

_What?_

She slowly got out of bed, noticing right away the changes in her height and clothes, and cautiously approached the vanity mirror. What she saw made her gasp. Long, pink hair. Emerald eyes not dulled by the contacts that she wore after Naruto's… jutsu test. A smooth, unscarred face, not hardened by years of being a ninja… not hardened by years at all.

The door opened, and Sakura got into her defensive position automatically, already half through checking to see if this was a genjutsu or not. She forgot all about it, a shocked expression crossing her face as her mom stepped into the room.

"Honey, are you…oh, you are. Well, can you turn off the alarm clock and hurry up, you're already late for your first day of being a ninja."

She mumbled a reply, trying to keep the shocked awe out of her voice. Sakura wanted to run towards her mom, hug her and cry until the tears that had been held back at the funeral were gone… but she didn't. For all she knew, this was some trick of some sort. Her mom gave her a weird look before backing out of the small room.

_Okay Sakura, think. It's not a genjutsu, or it might be an extremely complicated one, but I doubt that. A dream? Hallucinations? I can't break those. But who would know this much about me? I guess…it could be…_

She paused in her thoughts, that was just a little too out there.

_But I thought…'If only I could've saved them'…_

Sakura quickly banished that thought from her head. She would play along for now, entertaining that hope of maybe, just maybe, she went _back. _If that thought was proven, and she'd know when, that would be a second chance to save her friends… a second chance…

* * *

_**I've wanted to write one of these for a lo-ong time now. (2-3 months actually) Now I have! Flames make me laugh, Good Reviews make me feel Fuzzy...**_

_**By the way, my computer does not load fan subs, so I have to rely on the slow-coming American Version on TV. So… If I get something wrong (I'm relying on my friends for info), just correct me if you notice it.**_

_**MD**_


	2. Memories

**Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto. Even some of the scenes here I got ideas from other people.**

**Deal with me on the jutsu's for a couple of chapter's here. If I use the American Name, just… I'll correct it later. And this will not be a NarutoxSakura fic… I don't think, and if I do decide on SasukexSakura, It isn't happening in the next couple of chapters. **

**This is AU. Since I can't watch the newest episodes of the anime, my 7-year-old computer… anyway, I can't exactly know much more than the outline of what's happening. If you have anything that I might need, invisible people, tell me.**

* * *

**Thoughts During Flashbacks**

Thoughts

Normal Talk

**Jutsu/_Jutsu_**

**Me**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Memories.**

* * *

She didn't race Ino to the Academy this time. 

Sakura needed time to think. At least, she _thought _she needed time to think. Who wouldn't? Plus, if she saw Ino again she would probably start crying… she didn't at the funeral. The only funeral Sakura cried at was Naruto's, because he was the only one that didn't die after an attack, when Sakura wasn't filled with hate towards Sasuke, Orochimaru, or Kabuto.

-

_"I promised you, Sakura." An eighteen-year-old Naruto said to Sakura, voice so heavy with exhaustion it didn't seem to belong to Naruto. He raised his azure eyes to meet her's. "I said I would bring Sasuke back, and I haven't made that promise yet."_

_"Yes, but—" She knew he was exhausted. Naruto had seen Sasuke recently and fought him again…but it was no use. Choji, who was on the mission with him at the time, sacrificed himself to let Naruto and Shikamaru escape… no, to make Naruto escape. Shikamaru had to capture Naruto in a **Kagemane no Jutsu **to get him out of there. The only reason that worked was because Naruto was almost dead on his feet. He blamed himself for not being strong enough._

"_Look, I have this brand new jutsu." He walked a couple of meters away. "Here, I'll show you how far it's gotten. His voice got a hint of forced cheerfulness to it. "It's a wind element jutsu. Better than any Rasengan and on a larger scale!" He grinned, whisker marks on his cheeks seeming to stand out more. That should've alerted Sakura, but she watched, and waited._

_Naruto made a couple of handsigns, not bothering to yell out the jutsu name. He grinned, and when Sakura noticed that his eyes were red she tried to stop him, running forward into the growing tornado, but it was too late. Tsunade, who had just arrived, pulled her back as the wind jutsu reached its peak. Both the girl and the Hokage were blown back up to a kilometer, and everything within that radius was destroyed._

_The ANBU arrived. _

_Tsunade would not let them into the area, and proceeded to search every centimeter of the crater. Sakura with her. Near the opposite edge of the crater was Naruto, but you couldn't recognize him. His experimental jutsu had turned against him, and it was only later did Sakura find out that Kyuubi's chakra was the thing that caused the jutsu to malfunction. _

_After that funeral, Sakura hardened her heart to death._

_-_

She shook her head to clear her mind.

_I didn't need to remember that. _She told herself, forcing back the other memories that were fighting their way to her awareness. She stood, still not used to her twelve-year-old body.

_I'm going to need to train. This body can't even withstand the amount of chakra I push into a _good_ punch… or what it takes_ _to heal major injuries. Was I really this weak? I'm also clumsy, but for me at twelve I'm pretty agile. _

She had convinced herself to act as if this _was _a second chance, and if it wasn't she would've been able to see her friends and help them again, if it was, she wouldn't have been sitting around twiddling her thumbs.

Sakura ran through Kohona to the Academy, if her timing was right she would make it to class right before the accidental kiss in class. She would be on time, and nothing would be amiss… except that her hair now hung to her shoulders, and her normal outfit was a darker variation.

_Well I'm not going to tell them, who wants to hear their deaths? I can't act too different, even the shade of clothes will throw them off. It's not like me. If they find out… I'll just have to tell them… but…_

-

"_You __can't __be Sakura." Sasuke said as she punched the ground for show, creating a small crater. Her hair had been chopped off at irregular angles, and she had a bleeding gash running from her ear to her jaw._

"_Wanna' bet, teme?" She asked, speech slurred by the cut. _

"_Hn." He readied his fighting stance, activating his sharingan. She felt her anger flaring a little higher, her killing intent focused at the man in front of her. _

"_Remember, Sakura, stay back. We might need you to heal us if something happens." Kiba. He was with her, as well as Akamaru, Shino, Hinata, and Shikamaru. The five and dog left from the Rookie Nine. _

"_I know." To the other's, her voice reminded them of Naruto. "I'll _stay back._" She said mockingly, "But if you take him down, I get last blow." She said. This was no longer Sasuke._

_Sasuke wouldn't kill Choji or Ino. _

_Sasuke wouldn't drive Naruto to almost insanity until he overused his chakra. _

_That day, Hinata didn't come back._

_-_

Sakura cringed and approached the door to the classroom. From the noise inside and the clock on the wall, she was late, very late. She missed lunch and the teams being called out. The door was open slightly… and an eraser was stuck in the crack.

_At least I haven't missed Kakashi –sensei…reminder: don't trust cheap watches. But… I guess I'll just have to take the prank for him._ She smiled. Naruto would be crushed that his prank hit the wrong person, but… she needed some humor. She walked up to the door, threading her hand in between the door and the doorframe. She could almost hear their anticipated breathing from the other side of the door.

Sakura let the eraser hit the top of her head, throwing up a mini-cloud of chalk dust. Naruto was automatically apologizing, brushing his hands over the top of her head to clear the chalk dust away.

"Sorry, sorry, Sakura-chan!" He paused, seeming to notice how short her hair was. "What happened to your hair?"

Sakura felt tears form in her eyes. _No!_ She mentally screamed at herself. But she couldn't help it. Even Sasuke was getting a tear into her eye. To see him without the gleam in his eye that… was scary to say the least… seeing him without it was a relief. And Naruto. Even though she was seeing him as a twelve-year-old, she still hadn't seen him for almost five years. _Don't cry!_ She repeated to herself, blinking back the tears.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Asked Naruto, hurriedly picking up the eraser now and placing it near the chalkboard. Sakura grinned, hiding the tears and relief.

"So, I guess I'm on a team with you two, Sasuke, and Naruto! Since we're the only ones here!" She said brightly, but Sasuke had already been giving her weird looks, and her fake cheerfulness made him a little suspicious.

_I thought I could conceal my emotions_, she thought, slightly annoyed with herself; _I have to do a better job when I see the rest of the Rookie Nine._

Sakura turned to Naruto, "Put the eraser back up there. I would like to see if our jounin would see it or not." She said, handing the eraser to Naruto. Confusion was etched onto his features. Sakura sighed… and took the eraser back from him. She jammed it into the doorway, and then walked calmly to her normal seat.

-

'**thump'**

The eraser hit Kakashi's head square on. Sakura had to stifle giggles and Naruto was rolling on the floor laughing. It really wasn't_ that_ funny. Sasuke was… being Sasuke.

"We got you sensei!" Naruto yelled, "That's for you being late!"

"My first impression of you guys is…"

Kakashi paused,

"I hate you."

-

"OK, why don't you introduce yourselves first? One at a time." Kakashi-sensei said, leaning against the railing.

"Like what?" Asked Sakura, who was sitting in between Naruto and Sasuke. The other two needed to know what he was talking about, anyways.

"Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies." He replied vaguely.

"Why don't you go first, then?" Asked Naruto.

"Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate...I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future...never really thought about it. As for my hobbies...I have lots of hobbies."

"Real useful." Sakura muttered, closing her eyes briefly.

"Pinky, you first." He gestured at Sakura. She shrugged, and started to speak.

"Well…" She said, _don't tell them much,_ "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like…" She trailed off, thinking. She hadn't had much to truly like since… at least two or three years. She sighed, glancing at Sasuke. "I like…

-

_"Sasuke, why are you doing this?" She asked, tears and rain streaming down her face._

_"Why? To kill my brother and avenge my clan." Sasuke replied evenly, staring at the rain and blood-soaked ground._

_"It's more than that… why kill an entire village to avenge your clan? Why?"_

_"To test my power."_

-

Sakura finally decided, "I like it when people stay loyal to their friends, family, and village. I hate… death. My goal is to protect… everyone. And my hobbies… train… to get stronger to get to my goal." _There, short, sweet, and to the point._

Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her, as well as Kakashi-sensei.

"Ramen-kid… you next." He said after a pause.

---

"When will Kakashi-sensei show up?" Naruto whined, his grumbling stomach accompanying the cries.

Sakura grinned. "I don't know, I think he got lost on the road of life… maybe a couple of black cats crossed his path." She was enjoying this. Blame Naruto for rubbing off on her, but she 'forgot' to mention to eat in the morning. She, of course, had pigged out; ignoring the 'diet' she was supposed to be on at the time.

"But it's been three hours, Sakura-chaaaaaan."

"For all we know, he could've just left us out here and is watching us right now." Sasuke muttered from his leaning position. "But if you're hungry, just eat."

"Like I care about your opinion. Plus, Kakashi-sensei told us not to. That means this must be something super important. Like an A-rank mission or something! I knew he saw my potential!" Naruto almost yelled, but whatever Naruto was trying to make that moment into was ruined by another loud protest from his stomach. "Stop!" He yelled at his midsection, and it gave another growl in refusal.

"Yo." Came a voice from above them. "Sorry I'm late, a couple black cats crossed my path, and I had to take the long way around." He said, and Sakura almost laughed.

"Liar!"

-

"Your assignment is very simple: you just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you cant get 'em by noon, you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch as I eat my lunch in front of you." Kakashi said calmly, holding out the two bells in front of him. A line of three posts stood behind him, and their lunches were stacked nearby.

"Why are there only two bells, though?" Sakura asked. This was going to be easy. All she had to do was convince Sasuke that working with him won't be a hindrance, and they'd pass. Okay, maybe not that easy.

"One of you will fail... and the other two will pass..."

"Begin."

-

_Two eyes opened. One red, one black. The rain was pouring down. **Why did Sasuke do this? Attack this village. For power?**_

_"**To test my power."**_

_Sakura tried vainly to heal Kakashi. But he had been struck by a sound wave from one of the elite oto-nin. Nearly every bone in his body was broken. Except his teeth… and maybe his skull survived, but there was no way he'd even walk again. There was no way he'd even survive past dawn._

_"I'm proud of you Sakura. You've really matured." He mumbled, he shouldn't even be able to talk._

_"What?" She managed to choke out, but the bile that rose in her throat at the sight of her sensei choked off anything else she was going to say._

_"You stood up to Sasuke and found the power to drive him away before civilians were hurt." He said after a while._

_Sakura couldn't heal him._

-

_Why did I have to live through that hell?_ Sakura asked… _Why did I have to watch **all **of my friends **and** my sensei die?_

She was currently looking for Sasuke, and couldn't help but hear the scream from Naruto when Kakashi decided it was time for his 'secret finger technique'. She suppressed a chuckle despite her line of morbid thoughts, and continued to look for where Sasuke was hiding.

-

"Sasuke?" Sakura called, walking along the forest floor. She'd get Naruto in a couple of minutes… then we'd have about twenty minutes to get the bells, Naruto will take ten, and Sasuke will take twenty or so minutes to convince, plus the time he'll take after he finds out Naruto's helping…and then the plan will take about five to go over. She figured, and then came to the spot where Kakashi had pulled Sasuke underground.

She couldn't help it.

Last time, she had fainted, this time, she laughed. At first Sasuke thought she had fainted, it did fit in with her personality, but then he noticed her shoulders shaking, and then the muffled giggling.

Sakura was…laughing.

For Sasuke to be caught in this… it really proved that she had forgotten a lot of the little things about them being a team together. She even forgot, on purpose, fainting after she found Sasuke the first time. It just showed how obsessive she was over him.

"Can you get me out, then?" Mumbled Sasuke, inflicting damage on his large pride and ego.

"Hehe…sure." She was still laughing as she cracked the ground around him with a relatively weak punch, but stronger that she had ever been at twelve. Sasuke managed to get out of his predicament due to the hole, but Sakura had stopped laughing.

_………Stupid………_

"We have to work together," She quickly interrupted the question Sasuke was about to ask. "We can't beat Kakashi-sensei on our own, but we can… in theory… do so if we work together. Naruto, too." She took off before he could ask about her strength.

-

Naruto was easily found. They caught him right before he started to eat, and he was the easier to convince. Sasuke required persuasion, but when Sakura cracked the ground in front of him again he shut up.

"Now here's what we have to do to get the bells…"

* * *

**I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written for anything. Read…Review…Flame… if you hate it, can I at least have a flame? Bye!**

**MD**


	3. Bell Test

_**Remember, we're talking about a Sakura who lost a fraction (And not a small fraction) of her friends to Sasuke. He killed her friends… that's enough for hate.**_

_**And… she's twenty-three or something in here… well, her body's twelve but you know what I mean. She lost… Naruto… Ino… Choji…And I can't tell you the rest that she lost to Sasuke, it would ruin it.**_

**_But I do think that my characters are OOC. And I think I'm iffy on the fight scenes. Sooo... Anyways..._**

_**On to the Fic!**_

_**

* * *

**__**Chapter Three: Bell Test**__**

* * *

**_Kabuto awoke with a start. He jumped out of the bed, going over everything that had just happened. 

_The girl, Sakura hit me… and I'm not dead. Why am I not dead?_

He strode across the dark room to the small calendar and even smaller mirror. To say he was shocked was an understatement.

_How did that—_

The date was nearly ten years in the past; his _reflection _was nearly ten years in the past. Kabuto automatically checked for a genjutsu… and found none. Was it a dream… no… unless this was a coma?

_Not a dream, Not a genjutsu, should be dead…_

He trailed off; the last option was the most unlikely… But if what he thought was true _is true_, then… he had a second chance to take Kohona… and with all the cards this time around.

Yes… there were plans to be made.

* * *

Kakashi sighed. The other one, Sakura, hadn't tried to attack him yet, and time was almost out. _I actually thought she might have had some potential… but…if she figured out the __**meaning **__of the exercise…_

'_**Bhoom!'**_

_What the—_

He heard—and felt—the ground shake from some unknown source.

_I don't think I should let them die… and whatever they're doing is bound to attract the ANBU. I should just go see what they're doing._

_-_

The source of the quake was Sakura. She was standing in the center of the small crater, fist bloodied, and healing the small cuts that ran up and down her right arm.

_Yeah… I don't have the strength or the chakra coils for this yet._

But the diversion had worked. She was sure Kakashi was headed for them right now, and Sasuke would be following him.

_-_

"_Sasuke, you __**follow **__him, don't attack. And you'll know what Naruto's doing, so stay behind enough for him not to sense you. That's what I mean… you are not to make a move against Kakashi—"_

"_How is he going to go in that direction? What is the diversion going to be?"_

"_I'll take care of that. We need him near a place where we can corner him. Now Naruto..."_

_-_

Sasuke leapt through the trees, just barely staying out of Kakashi's range…

_Sakura made that shaking… that was the diversion she was talking about. She was __**never **__that strong, and she shouldn't be that good at hiding things to hide that strength even half of the time. And she's not acting like the fangirl that she usually acts like around me._

Sasuke was turning those thoughts over in his head as he followed the barely noticeable trail that Kakashi left.

_She couldn't be taking being a ninja more seriously, because she would've starting acting like this before. She could be an imposter, but…_

This was one problem the Uchiha wouldn't be solving soon.

-

Naruto was slightly confused.

_When did Sakura get __**that **__strong? _He asked himself, keeping an eye out for Kakashi at the same time. There was a small cliff…thing across from him about a decameter or so; it would be easy to trap him with the teme's help.

-

_"Naruto, I need you to get along with Sasuke for a while." _

_"But—"_

"_Just tell us what we need to do." Interrupted Sasuke, his voice still laced with annoyance at not being the one with the plan._

_"First, you trap Kakashi-sensei against the cliff." Sakura continued, " I'll get the bells if you two can **keep him there. **Now, to keep him against the cliff, I need you to…"_

-

Naruto had been closer to Sakura than Sasuke had… he had felt the earth shake from the blow she gave it. _She didn't hit me today, or call me baka, or any other thing she usually does. She didn't fawn over Sasuke, and she didn't stop me from doing the prank yesterday… she was **late.** This can't be—_

His thoughts were interrupted by a blur approaching. He immediately jumped to his feet, noting the trap he had set just in case Kakashi got by him. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** A wall of shadow clones were stationed along trees, the pathway, everywhere. I have to time this right…

-

Sasuke heard Naruto yell the jutsu, he still couldn't believe the 'dead last' could do a jutsu like that. Was his team really better than him—or everyone else—had given the other two credit for?

He sped up. It didn't matter. Kakashi was captured no matter what now.

-

_NOW!_

At once, all of his Kage Bunshins leapt into position.

_I got you now, sensei._

_-_

Kakashi noticed about a second too late.

_A trap, I didn't expect them to do that…it didn't look like either of the boys' style._

He stopped, only to find himself surrounded by Naruto's Kage Bunshins, a small cliff to his back.

_But they'll have to do better than this to __**get **__the bells._

Naruto attacked… correction—_Narutos _attacked. From all sides, almost all directions. Up; left; right; forward, even a couple were wedged between him and the cliff now.

_His taijutsu's sloppy. His tactics are sloppy. Everything about this kid is sloppy._

He fended off a punch from Naruto 9, and blocked a punch from Naruto 23, and the clones were slowly disappearing. One Naruto threw another at him, and he punched… to find out it was the real Naruto. The rest disappeared, and once hidden in their ranks was Sasuke, who immediately ran forward, the handsigns for a fire jutsu already in progress.

-

_"You have to synchronize your attacks perfectly, and not let Kakashi-sensei get in a jutsu, okay?"_

"_How are we going to get the bells?" Sasuke asked, intrigued now that he heard how the parts of the plan worked together. He couldn't have come up with a better plan at the time, even though he wouldn't admit it._

"_Like this…"_

_-_

Kakashi leapt back as the fire jutsu almost hit him, singeing his clothes and throwing him slightly off balance. He righted himself in midair, landing on the rocky ground. Then Sakura attacked.

-

"_I can do the… final blow. This has to be short and sweet, or else we'll lose the element of catching him off guard. He's underestimating us now, but he won't again."_

_-_

She came from above, apparently hidden in one of the trees. Her fist was outstretched, and pointing right at Kakashi. He caught the fist, but another Sakura shot up from the ground, and the one he had grabbed disappeared. _Two of them can do __**Kage Bunshins?**_

He lost his footing as the girl crashed up from the ground, and she brushed past him, landing beside Naruto and Sasuke. She had both bells, and tossed one to the latter. _She got both?_

Naruto was looking slightly dejected, but not nearly as much as Kakashi would've thought.

-

"_But… what about the one of us who __**doesn't **__get the bell?"_

"_Don't worry about that Naruto, he wouldn't take apart a team that could get both bells, would he?"_

_-_

"I think we pass, right, sensei?"

-

Kakashi was annoyed… in fact, he was more than annoyed. Not only did he have to report to the Sandaime that his team passed his test, he also had to tell _how. _Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but he had underestimated the Sakura girl, as well as the teamwork skills between the Uchiha and the Uzumaki.

In a real battle, a slip like that could be deadly.

But he had now come to the conclusion that the earth-shaking move that brought him to the trap had been caused by Sakura. _Her strength could rival an experienced Chunnin, and there's nothing in her records to say so…_

"_I think we pass, right, sensei?"_

"_We __**all **__passed, didn't we? Right?" Naruto begged, trying… and failing…to grab the bell from his teammates._

"_H-hai."_

He passed them.

Not only did the Haruno show promise, but the other two had chakra capacity and experienced jutsu in their arsenal. But it was the girl that came up with the plan, even if she wouldn't admit it. Nothing there to go against her records.

But, littered around the training ground were small craters, obviously caused by Sakura.

"Hokage-sama, I have… passed my team."

* * *

"What is it, Kabuto?" Hissed Orochimaru, annoyed. He was just thinking of how… _wonderful…_the feeling would be when he crushed Kohona.

"I think you might want to know this information."

* * *

_**Read, Review, Flame… Hehe... I'm never going to get a flame saying that…**_

_**MD**_


	4. To the Wave Country Part 1

**_Author's Note: Warning: A part of this is merely filler, but the rest has some action. Now about how the others died… Hmmm, well, Neji won't be revealed for a while because I'm making my Neji-loving friend write his death… and I can't come up with a way to kill my Shino… except my friend said "He got bit by a spi-ider!". Don't worry, that's not how he dies (Even though I could write something funny and tragic with that) … sorry, anyways… onto the fic! Oh, and the little things… wording and such… will be wrong if I can't find it in quotable quotes for each episode._**

**_Warning Two: This has a little bit of 'poor Sakura' in it, but it couldn't be helped as I wrote it… if you don't like it, sorry!_**

**_

* * *

_**

**_Chapter Four: To the Wave Country (Part 1)_**

**_

* * *

_**

Sakura finally had the chance to go shopping.

And, after a few D-ranks, she had the money.

So… she went shopping.

She was tired of the outfit that she had, she needed something more _her: _the twenty-three-year-old who lost everything. But not too much, because Kakashi-sensei was _still_ watching her, as if she was some imposter, _Of course, I could be in his eyes._

Only there was one problem.

Half of the outfits that she wore hadn't even been _designed _yet. When asking of her most recent (if you could call it that) outfit she had worn at twenty and up, she shop owner gave her an odd look, informing her that there wasn't a outfit like that there, that there probably wasn't an outfit like that in _existence._

_Hehe… Oops?_

So she decided on subtle changes.

Black gloves with the knuckles reinforced that ran a couple inches up her arm. She needed to build up her physical strength as well as her chakra coils, and she didn't need bloodied hands while doing it.

Black sandals… there wasn't much thought behind that… it just reminded her of the look she had after the other's died.

And a darker red variation of her current outfit… not much thought into that either.

-

Now for training.

She trained from breakfast to whenever Kakashi-sensei showed up, which he was starting to do earlier. After team seven was dismissed, she trained until dinner. It was her new schedule. She even encouraged Sasuke and Naruto to train more, and the progress they made was much more than what Sakura remembered from the first time around. Yes, she had started calling it that because, however unlikely in might've seemed, she had been given a second chance, and she was going to use it.

Sakura's training on the other hand was going slowly. She knew that it had taken ten years to get up to her previous/future level, but it was still infuriating. She was progressing at an incredibly slow rate in her opinion, and the rate only slowed down when she found that Kakashi-sensei had, in all rationale, started stalking her. So she continued to train in different places every day. She had the upper hand now, and if she told Kakashi-sensei of the future, he'd tell the Sandaime, and she'd lose the upper hand because the time line would be changed incredibly.

She was still progressing slowly, though.

So she trained harder.

-

"—I want a C-rank!" Naruto demanded, earning looks that weren't exactly _surprised _turned to him. "We've been training for _hours _every _day! _Even Sasuke-teme has been training a lot. We're ninja now, not kids who need to _baby-sit!" _

"Naruto! You're a new genin, no matter how much you train, and genin with almost no experience start out with simple missions!" Iruka reprimanded, glaring at Naruto as he protested.

"Babysitting isn't a mission, it's—"

Kakashi silenced Naruto with a bonk on the head, but before he could speak, Sakura interrupted.

"I agree. If we train this much, we might as well get something useful out of it." She said, supporting Naruto. Immediately the focus shifted to her, Kakashi and Iruka in particular. _Maybe I shouldn't have…_

"Hai. If we train this much, we shouldn't be babysitting, wasting our skills." Sasuke said, drawing focus away from Sakura, all except Kakashi, who was still half focused on her. Iruka was about to say something, but the Sandaime interrupted.

"The three brats just want to prove they're ex-brats now, Iruka, go easy on them. I think I have an C-rank here…"

-

"_Sakura?" Choji's Funeral. _

"_Hai, Naruto."_

"_Do you remember, at the bridge, where you thought… __**he **__died?"_

"_Hai."_

"_Haku, and maybe Zabuza, didn't deserve to die."_

"_What?"_

"_Haku wouldn't kill for no reason, he was just acting on Zabuza's orders, who in turn was acting on Gaito's orders. Neither should've died."_

"_What?" Sakura repeated, wondering why Naruto was bringing __**this**__ up __**now**_

"_They didn't deserve to die. I could've prevented that if I thought. Now Choji's dead because of one of my mistakes."_

_His voice was deadly calm, and it scared Sakura slightly, but then it clicked. He was remembering one of the instances where he couldn't be in control, just like what had happened with Choj'. But…he wasn't blaming himself for this, was he?_

"_I led them into that area while I was injured. It was my fault. I was the one that hesitated and argued with Haku, giving him time to sacrifice himself for a useless goal. They're just two of the many mistakes I've made, only those cost lives."_

_What? He was blaming himself for **both?! **He had nothing to do with either, it couldn't be helped._

"_I promise you Sakura." He continued, his voice taking on a slightly bestial tone. "And this one I'll keep. I'll train harder, and next time I meet that teme, I'll either bring him back or kill him. He isn't going to take any more of my friends."_

"…_Hai." She seriously couldn't think of anything else to say after that. _

_She blamed herself for not stopping Naruto's training sooner._

_She blamed herself for not helping Naruto keep his promise._

_-_

Sakura took a deep breath, driving out the memories that threatened to overwhelm her.

"…an escort mission outside of the village."

_Yes… maybe I can fulfill one of Naruto's… regrets._

"I will now show you who you'll be escorting."

_Uh oh…_

"He's a very important bridge builder who needs to get to the land of waves… it should be a pretty easy mission, just protection from bandits and such."

"A bunch of snot-nosed _brats? _And the one with the idiotic look on his face… are these even _ninja?" _The man in question said, a bottle of alcohol in his hand, squinting at Naruto.

"Who—"

Sakura elbowed him lightly, "I think he means you." She whispered, and Naruto glowered at the man, seeping killing intent. Sakura felt a little proud, it was she who taught him how to control his killing intent more, and it paid off.

"Well, yeah? You'll see, I'm probably the strongest ninja _in my team!" _He disputed, earning a comment from Kakashi-sensei.

"I doubt that, Naruto, but you'll be able to show of your hard work if, _if, _we run into any bandits and such."

"Yeah. You'll do great when… _if …_we get some action." Sakura stated.

-

_Is this really Sakura? She would never defend Naruto like this… and barely a word was said after Sasuke agreed with her, just a tiny bit of relief. Could she be taking being a ninja more seriously than I first thought? But I taught her; I should've noticed this._

-

Kakashi wasn't as surprised as Iruka, but still, he was still trying to figure out Sakura. Including times were she would seem out of focus, as if lost in thought.

_She knows more than she's letting on about the C-rank mission. _But… how could that even be possible? They hadn't even done it. _It was just a slip of the tongue that she noticed and tried to correct. But she still said '__**when**__'… I'm going to ask her after this mission… __**especially **__if something happens. _

_-_

_I slipped up. I shouldn't have said that '**what'**. I need to be more careful, and Kakashi-sensei already suspects me of doing…something. _

_-_

"Yeah!"

"Naruto? Excited?"

"Yep! Sakura-chan, It's my first time outside the village! I'm officially a traveler now!"

"Your _first _time?" Tazuna asked, incredulous, "I'm not even getting ninja who've been _out of the village?!_"

"Well, you did request just a simple C-rank… unless you were lying, and in that case, we'll have to go back to the village." Kakashi said lazily, reading his… book.

"No, I just thought I would get a team that has _some _experience."

"It shouldn't be a problem, we're dealing with bandits and such, aren't we?" Kakashi replied, looking at him over his reading material. (Much better name!)

"Hai." Tazuna grunted.

-

The puddle.

Frankly, the source of the first evil in the mission.

Sakura ignored it.

She dropped back, though, right behind Tazuna and Sasuke.

Then the puddles…turned out to be more than puddles… of course, this came only as a surprise to Naruto, Tazuna, and to an extent, Sasuke.

-

Kakashi, was once again, 'killed' in an instant.

Once again, Naruto froze.

But Sakura was ready this time.

"Sasuke, protect Tazuna!" She yelled, grabbing the chain with her chakra, reinforced gloves, wincing as it cut into her flesh, though not as much as it normally would. _I need to get more of these gloves._

The ninja stopped. One turned his gaze on the girl who was still holding the chain. He dove for her, but she grabbed his metal arm, wary of the poison, and shifted her body weight to let him fly right past her. That was the extent of her strength so far.

She ducked, and the chain whizzed over her head as the other brother was pulled along, and she sent a kunai after the two, driving the chain into the tree. _The same tree as last time…history does repeat itself._

Sasuke was watching Sakura as if she wasn't _her._

When they detached the chain, one went for Tazuna, the other for Sakura.

That's when Kakashi arrived.

He dispatched the one heading for Tazuna, and in an instant, dispatched the other one too.

_This is why I need to train more. **That **was the level I was at before… this. _

-

_Sakura would've never done something like that. Is that girl still the same Sakura, or…_ Sasuke's thoughts trailed off as Kakashi interrogated the two 'demon bothers'. _She just… can't be Sakura… there is no way._

_-_

"Tazuna, I would like you to explain why _two _chunnin-level ninja were after you."

_And later, Sakura, I would like **you **to explain how you **knew **two chunnin-level ninja were after him._

---

_I think I did a good job with Orochimaru. Just enough to warn him to be careful, because a dead Sannin is no longer useful, and just enough to ensure that he'll die by Sasuke's hands or by Jiraiya's and Tsunade's hands. I need the extra time to train, so that I'll no longer **need **a Sannin here. But that girl, if she knows too, she could crush the sound village altogether. That's why I need him… but not for long._

* * *

**Author's Note: Yay me! Another chapter done! And, just in case people are wondering, reviews do make a difference. I type faster with reviews. Ja ne!**

**MD**


	5. To the Wave Country Part 2

**_Note: Some of these 'misquotes' are unintentional, but in this chapter, a lot of them are intentional, like Naruto's 'speech' for instance. After the Chunin Exams the 'flashbacks of death' will be over, so I'll post a little recap of all the flashbacks, as well as my friend's 'flashbacks', including something I worked together with her involving Five year old Neji and stinky underwear. Don't ask._**

_It has come to my attention that someone would like to know the pairings. I don't even know the pairings. So if any of you want to vote on who Sakura will be with, go ahead..._

* * *

_**Chapter Five: To the Wave Country Part 2**_

* * *

"We should stay." Sakura finally said, supporting Naruto for the first time in the last couple days. "Tazuna—no— the _entire _wave country needs our help, don't they? But if we go back now, it'll just take more time and Tazuna might be killed in the process. Plus, even if he isn't killed, the extra time would give Gatou time to regroup, and send more… advanced ninja to take care of him." 

"That… makes sense." Kakashi said, processing the information. Yes, she definitely knew more than she was letting on. Sakura continued.

"And… we have you if things get out of hand."

"Yeah!" Agreed Naruto, in a voice that was just a little too loud, "This is our chance to show you how much we've improved!" Despite the gray pallor he still had from the freeze-up when he was up against the two chunnin, Naruto was acting his normal self.

Kakashi turned his eye to Naruto, and then suddenly back to Sakura. "Talking about improvement…" The jounin-sensei paused, he shouldn't be bringing this up in the middle of the mission, but she knew more about this, and the information may be helpful. "Sakura, don't lie to me, but I would like to know you got so strong, I haven't even brought up _tree-climbing _to you guys. And I'd also like to know how, back in the mission room, you seemed to _know _that something was going to happen."

-

Sakura was panicking.

Of course, she would never show it on the outside, but Kakashi-sensei had her cornered, he was a _great _lie detector, so he would see right through any lie she made up, no matter how good. If she told him, she'd have to trust him with information to not give to the Hokage.

-

"_Sakura, I would like you to take off a couple weeks."_

"_What?" Sakura had become quite adept at using that word. "Why, Tsunade-sama?"_

"…_you were hiding information about the extent of Temari's injuries from her brothers and me."_

"_It's not for them to know… it would only put more misery on them" Sakura replied, and then said, "Who told you?"_

"_I have to agree with the misery part, but they should know anyways. You have no say in that… as well you should have told me also, and I would have contacted the Kazekage—Gaara—and told him. As for who told me, Kakashi overheard you, and decided it was information that needed to be handed to me. I need to know these things, Sakura, don't blame Kakashi."_

_-_

Well, she'd just put it off. If she could talk to Kakashi-sensei alone, she'd be able to probably get a half-promise out of him before telling him. She was definitely not going to tell everyone standing there in the middle of a road where someone could be listening in, undetected.

"I was doing some research on different ninja countries one night, and came across a small section on the wave country, just something little. It had information on the economies of the non-ninja countries, and I know that some people would profit from that. So wouldn't it be logical that someone who would help the economy would be a target?" Sakura paused. The ending was going to be lame, though, and that's where Kakashi-sensei would see right through the lie, "As for how strong I am, I train. I'm actually taking being a ninja seriously, even if you don't think I am."

It was an extremely convincing half-lie, but she was certain Kakashi-sensei would see through it in an instant.

-

He did see through the lie, but it took him a couple moments to do so. Compared to how he could detect the average lie, Sakura was good for a genin… or a chunnin for that matter.

_Where did she learn to lie so good? _Was added to the ever-growing pile of questions he was going to ask Sakura.

But he put it off, because she had a reason for lying, and it would be better for Kakashi that he corner Sakura and repeat the question. Maybe then he would get some answers.

-

_Zabuza_

The one named echoed through her mind as the kunai flew toward the rabbit's hiding place. She ran over, scooping up the rabbit and reprimanding Naruto to be careful, though not as hard as she used to do.

The blade whizzed toward the group, and Kakashi-sensei yelled, "_Down!_" In the same instant, a figure appeared nearby and Kakashi turned to face him.

Sakura stood behind him, the rabbit dropped back into the foliage, where it had hopped away, probably to get away from the approaching battle. Sasuke and Naruto were both to her right; she was facing sideways, but kept staring at the two jounin as she waited for Kakashi-sensei or Zabuza to make the first move. Tazuna was in the middle of the three genin, their goal of protection.

Naruto had started to rush forward, but Sakura had grabbed him just before he could get any farther. "This is out of your level."

-

Kakashi faced Zabuza, one of the hidden swordsmen of the mist, as he appeared.

"…Hidden Mist's Missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza." He drawled, and then directed his next comment to the genin. "Don't attack this guy, stay back. He's at my level." Kakashi turned back to Zabuza, hand hovering over his crooked hitai-tie. "So, to beat you, I might need to use _this." _He drew the leaf headband up to reveal a red eye in which three tomoes were stationed around the pupil.

-

"So, to beat you…"

He heard Sakura whisper something, just barely picking up what she said.

"Sharingan."

"…I might need to use _this._"

…It _was _Sharingan.

About a hundred questions exploded into the Uchiha's mind:

How did Kakashi get Sharingan, he's not an Uchiha, is he? 

_Why is it only in one eye?_

_Why didn't I know about this?_

And, most importantly,

_How did Sakura know this before me?_

And the mist started to roll in.

_-_

Sasuke seemed a little unsteady due to the amount of killing intent leaking from the two advanced ninja.

That was to be expected… but Naruto didn't seem to be as shaken, neither did Sakura, but she was different.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you with my life." Kakashi said, earning a chuckle from the other ninja.

"Brave words."

Zabuza appeared behind Tazuna, sword raised, but before Kakashi could get there, Sakura took care of him with a _very _solid punch. The water clone collapsed, and another one appeared behind her, sword in mid-swing. Sasuke took care of that one with a kunai in the back of the neck.

A third one took advantage of two of the genin out of position, diving for the venerable Tazuna…

…and Naruto took care of that one, positioning four **Kage Bunshins** in a square around the bridge builder.

Kakashi observed this through the growing mist, keeping all of his senses on full alert for the real Zabuza. _They __**have **__improved. Even Naruto's taijutsu and tactics have improved._

The real Zabuza chuckled from the mist.

-

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke couldn't see anything anymore.

They were positioned around the bridge builder again, in a sort of Octagon shape with Naruto's **Kage Bunshins **in between each genin. A clash of metal and a curse came from their right, and two indistinct figures appeared. One was behind the other, and the glint of metal, even visible through the dense fog, proclaimed that there was a kunai to the other's throat.

_Which one is Zabuza?_

"This battle is over." Came Kakashi-sensei's voice, strangely echoing in the thick fog.

Sakura breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief. _Good, the battle's going the way it should. I might just be able to save them._

Suddenly the second figure collapsed, and the first one—Kakashi-sensei—disappeared into the mist.

-

Naruto was straining his ears for any sound that would signify the two fighting ninja, and at the same time accompanying his clones in looking around for any **Mizu Bunshins** of Zabuza. Then the mist started to clear.

He couldn't see much through it at first, but it gradually got less opaque, just putting a white hue on everything.

That's when he saw it.

The man, Zabuza, was standing _on the water_, holding what looked like a sphere of some sort. He squinted, trying to make out what was in the sphere, when he noticed a flash of silvery hair. _Kakashi-sensei! _

_How did—_

His thoughts were cut off by Sakura-chan, who was whispering urgently from between him and Sasuke-teme, "Listen, you have to get him to let go of the sphere _willingly, _or else Kakashi-sensei isn't going anywhere. Okay?"

Naruto wanted to ask her _how _exactly she knew this, he knew she was smart but… there was a mission going on, and more than that, a battle. He nodded, along with Sasuke-teme, who was probably having the same thoughts, and listened as she continued, "I'll watch Tazuna…" The man was still behind her, "And you guys take care of Kakashi-sensei."

"Yeah, the girl has a point." Tazuna agreed, giving the two boys permission to attack.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stepped forward, the former's **Kage Bunshins **disappearing in a large poof of smoke.

-

_So the brats think they can take me?_

_-_

Naruto made the first move against the Mizu Bunshin who was opposing him.

Naruto was knocked back, his leaf headband flying to about halfway between him and the Bunshin.

Naruto charged once again, making a big show of _getting _the headband back, and Kakashi was stuck wondering this until he proclaimed,

"Remember this and _write it down in your bingo book! _I will be Hokage one day, and I _will beat you! _And a ninja _loyal _to his village would do anything to protect it and it's name, and I, Uzumaki Naruto, am not _failing this mission!" _

_Wow, overkill. But Naruto got the point across. _

_-_

Naruto suddenly got an idea. Since this creepy eyebrow less guy could dodge almost anything thrown at him, but if he couldn't se it until the last second, would he be able to dodge something coming at him and still hold on to the water prison that held Kakashi-sensei?

Well, he was going to try it.

Pulling out the 'real' shuriken, he threw it to Sasuke, who recognized it not only by just knowing, but he recognized it by one of the training sessions outside of team missions she had encouraged the two to do together.

And so he didn't even show that he recognized Naruto's plan.

At first Naruto was worried, but as his friend/rival threw the shuriken, deliberately aiming low to get behind Zabuza, Naruto relaxed.

This might be easier than what he first thought.

-

Zabuza saw the shuriken fly towards him and he jumped over it with expertise.

Only too late did he realize what the brats were planning, and only too late to dodge without breaking the sphere.

With a mental curse, he pulled his hand free of the water, and the sphere collapsed when he released the jutsu, freeing Kakashi.

Kakashi jumped back, landing nimbly on the water, "I think I'll take it from here." He told Naruto and Sasuke, who were both standing on the shore, backing to where Zabuza's target was being guarded by the girl.

_I lost my best chance to a couple of kids?_

_---_

**_Wheee! I'll finish this wonderful fight and corner Sakura in a bunch of Questions in: Chapter Six: Secrets._**

_**MD**_


	6. Secrets

**Okay, The timeline won't really start to change until the Cunnin Exams, so… well, the fights and such and…never mind, I don't know what I'm talking about.**

**Anyway, there are small time/word differences in this chapter, but I need to finish this ark before 1) I even start thinking about the pairings and 2) The timeline starts changing.**

**And only Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto PoV address Kakashi as 'Kakashi-sensei' when I'm writing. So that's why I switch from being consistent to not doing it.**

**Naruto _is _smarter in this one, and I'm one of those who believe he's not a _total _idiot, unlike me, and I also believe that at least part of his… oddness is a mask. I have kids at my _school _like that… But since I'm pretty sure that he is a little smarter than he looks, I chose to increase him with training, all except his… Oh this is a Spoiler, never mind.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Secrets**

* * *

They were both standing on the water, doing handsigns. 

The two dragons clashed, sending up a stream of water and dousing the shore in mist and droplets.

_I shouldn't have forced these kids into this._

Tazuna was standing there as the two advanced ninja fought, but it seemed like kind of a handsign standoff to him. The one with the sword—Zabuza—would start a jutsu but he would never get to finish it right because Kakashi would do the same one.

Right now, no jutsu's were erupting from the water, but handsigns were in progress.

-

_He can see into my mind._

-

Kakashi knew he had his opponent. It would only take an inkling of self-doubt for it to work, and the self-doubt would grow until it turned to panic.

And panic was the enemy of any ninja.

-

Zabuza, who had first initiated that thought, immediately regretted it.

The thought had become reality, and he was visibly shaken as he tried to complete the handsigns for **Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu** (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique). But he was too slow.

Hatake Kakashi completed the handsigns before him.

_He **is** seeing into my mind._

_I can't keep up!_

_-_

Kunai slammed into Zabuza's arms, and he weakly asked, "Can you…see the future?"

Hiding his amusement at the comment, Kakashi replied, seemingly deadly serious, "Yes, and do you know what I see?" He continued without an answer to the rhetorical question, "That this is your last battle."

But before Kakashi could make the last move, two senbon needles embedded themselves in Zabuza's flesh, killing him.

Kakashi jumped down, checking Zabuza's pulse as the culprit appeared.

"I am sorry that he troubled you." The hunter-nin said, obviously the one that finished Zabuza.

-

_Who is this?_

Naruto ran forward before Sakura could stop him, "Hey you, who do you think you are?"

"Don't… Naruto, he's not out enemy." Kakashi-sensei said, glancing at Naruto.

"That's not the point! Did you see what he did?! Zabuza was huge, and powerful! And this kid, who's no bigger than me, he brought down Zabuza…like it was nothing! What does that make us? We barely know anything! How can I accept that I know almost nothing!?"

Kakashi-sensei sighed, "That's how it works, Naruto, even if you don't except it, it _still _happened."

"It's over now. Now, I must deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell!"

-

"C'mon, let's go." Kakashi-sensei said, and then promptly fainted.

---

His vision was blurry at first, but soon the world came into focus.

He sat up, immediately checking for the familiar chakra signatures of his students. He found Naruto's, Sasuke's, and with a little searching, Sakura. She seemed to be outside, training. _Training? _Okay, so that ruled out the option of capture… so they must've gotten to the bridge builder's place.

Someone was entering the room, he realized now that his immediate attention wasn't on the genin.

"I see you're awake, how are you doing?" She asked, and Kakashi muttered a reply. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were coming in, meeting with someone, and heading towards him. _Here they come._

Two—three—four people came into the room, Sakura and Naruto battling to get into the door first. They both said, "Kakashi-sensei!" Though Sakura's voice was quieter than Naruto's.

Sasuke waited for the others to finish their greeting before muttering a low, "Sensei." _Something is on his mind, and something tells me it's also about Sakura._

Tazuna was behind them, and, for once, not holding an alcohol bottle in his hand.

After a couple of minutes of Naruto stating that _he _had carried Kakashi back, _he _was the strongest of the group, and an introduction of the woman, Tazuna's daughter, Kakashi finally started to explain what he had been thinking of the past five or so minutes.

He started with a small introduction of the ANBU, knowing that his students would have a better understanding of his hunch if they knew the basis on where his hunch came from. The jounin-sensei then started on Hunter-nin, suspecting that the others haven't even heard about hunter-nin.

But he was wrong.

As he explained, Sakura was, seemingly unconsciously, nodding her head. He put this away for future note, and then moved onto Sasuke. His face was slowly dawning understanding, even if the Uchiha's features were harder to read than the others. Naruto, on the other hand, seemed to need a little hint before he got it. It seemed that he had the right answer in the back of his mind, but wasn't sure if it was right or not.

When he got to the part about senbon, Sasuke interrupted, "But… _senbon _needles aren't used for killing, unless they're poisoned, so—"

Naruto, obviously finding the right answer, continued for Sasuke, "—Zabuza is still alive! I can't believe it! The kid tricked us!"

Tazuna looked doubtful, and Sakura's face was just… blank, like she was waiting for Kakashi to say something. But that chance never came, because at that moment, a little kid burst into the room, staring angrily at the ninja.

"Don't you get it? He's going to kill you all! Gato! He's too powerful, too strong. He'll kill you! There's no hope here, so just leave before you die!" The kid stood there staring at Naruto in particular, it seemed, and _quivering _with rage.

-

"Listen here kid!" Started Naruto, "Some fat rich gut named Gato isn't going to get me! Or any of my team for that matter…or anyone else here for that matter!" _Naruto butchered __**that **__sentence. _"And you better know that we're ninja! We _never _back out of a mission, no matter how hard _or _dangerous."

"You're wrong! You're—"

"That's enough, Inari." Tsunami said, leading Inari out of the room. _That went… a lot like last time._

_---_

Kakashi limped up the tree, ignoring the shocked stares of Sasuke and Naruto. _Sakura should be able to complete this exercise, and that will give me time to question her about all this._

_-_

Sakura was, once again, the only one to complete the tree-climbing exercise, and Kakashi-sensei led her away from the practice area under the pretense of '_extra training'. _

_Uh-oh._

-

Kakashi stopped far enough from the boys not to be heard, and turning to Sakura, he demanded, "Tell me what you're hiding. Don't lie this time."

A range of emotions played over the girl's face, panic, uncertainty, fear, and finally landing on mistrust. She voiced her next question hesitantly, "Will you tell the Sandaime?"

_What? What could be so bad that I'd have to promise not to tell the Sandaime? What could be so important that I'd **tell **the Hokage?_

He finally said, after a moment of thought, "I can't promise that, Sakura. If it's _that _important, which I doubt, then I can't promise anything."

-

_I knew that he wouldn't promise._

_-_

She sighed, and then, the mistrustfulness still showing on her face, "Well then, just until after the Chunnin exams, please?"

_The Chunnin Exams, how does she even know about them? _Kakashi asked himself, _And does that mean she __**knows **__I'm thinking of putting them in?_

"Hai, I won't tell anyone until the Chunnin Exams."

"Promise? On your life?"

"Hai." _**Life!?**_

"Okay…"

---

Kakashi was shocked. In fact, he was more than shocked. His student just told him she went back in time and is trying to redo everything… He was shocked. _Not even Zabuza jumping out of the trees and attacking would shock me more now._

And when he showed doubt, she gave him a detailed list of his life events that no one else _should _know.

She was, in all accounts, from the future in a twelve-year-old body.

_Wow._

She hadn't told him much, only that Sasuke betrays Kohona for Orochimaru… and even that was a bombshell on it's own. He knew Sasuke liked power, but _that _much?

And the worst thing of all was that the girl had backed him into a promise _not to tell anybody. _And before telling him much more than, "I'm different." She made him _swear in blood_ not to tell anyone.

And then she went in to eat lunch.

…………

-

Sakura came and got the other two genin, looking both happier and more apprehensive than she had ever in her life. _I told Kakashi-sensei, hopefully he won't break the promise… well __**can **__he break the promise? _She felt like she had gotten a load off of her chest telling him, but it had been quickly replaced by a hollow of uncertainty. She pushed it out of her mind, though, and concentrated on the boys.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were doing better than they had the first time around, probably due to that extra training. But they both still needed help.

Over lunch, she probably was going to tell them, but not a moment before.

"I know why you're both not mastering it!" She had yelled up to them, a couple meters up the tree, but not nearly high enough.

They both fell back down, Sasuke a little more elegantly than Naruto. "Why?" They both asked at almost the same time, but Sakura just shrugged,

"You both have to _eat _first."

She wasn't going to let Naruto train 'till he almost dropped dead this time.

-

The lunch was oddly quiet… until Inari took that chance to make a fool of himself… again.

"You don't know what you're doing!" He yelled, "You don't know what it's like to be hated by everyone and everybody! Gato _is _going to kill you, all of you!"

_What? __**I **__don't know what it's like to be hated. Wow… this kid knows nothing. _Naruto thought, looking up from his food.

"Listen kid, you don't know what you're talking about. Go play your… games or whatever, and leave taking care of Tazuna to us if all you have time to do is talk."

"You don't—"

"_Inari! __**Stop!**_" Tazuna interrupted, and the kid got down off of the stool, pushing past Kakashi-sensei to get outside, it seemed that the jounin was just coming in.

-

Sakura was anxious, nervous, and apprehensive.

She wasn't sure what Kakashi-sensei would do after telling him what she had been hiding.

But he merely sat down, showing nothing, and said, "Sakura, you are to guard Tazuna until dinner."

He seemed more distant, as if lost in thought, _But that should be expected, I did just tell him that, not only am I in my twenties, but I also told him Sasuke defects, but not when or why, exactly. That in itself should stop him from asking me other questions._

_-_

Sasuke looked up, obviously thinking that this was a good time to ask the question that had been bugging him all day and well into the night yesterday.

_Sharingan._

He normally would wait until after the mission to even bring it up, but Sakura knew that Kakashi-sensei had Sharingan _eye _before he even revealed it. And he wanted to know why, and how, she knew and he, an _Uchiha_, didn't.

"Sakura." He started, glancing at Sakura out of the corner of his eye, "I have a question for you."

-

Kakashi observed Sasuke, but half of his attention was on his thoughts, as if he was reading something without the words 'Icha Icha' in it.

Only, this time, his thoughts weren't on the perverted book.

He vaguely heard Sasuke start to question Sakura, and that's when all this attention snapped back to the _present_ Uchiha, not the _future _one.

"How did you know that Kakashi had Sharingan _eye _before even I did, Sakura?"

Tazuna and Naruto's attentions snapped toward Sasuke, Tazuna's curious, and Naruto's seemed to be asking the same question as Sasuke.

Kakashi on the other hand, watched the emotions play over Sakura's face with his trained eye. Panic was the dominant one, along with anger… at herself?

-

_I should've been more careful. "**Sharingan." **Why did I whisper that, what possessed me to do so? _

_-_

Kakashi decided to intervene before Sasuke noticed the barely perceptible emotions on his other student's face.

"She found me one day, training, and I was using my Sharingan eye… actually, it was only a couple days before this mission. I asked her not to tell you guys, and she had to listen. Is that enough, or do you want to start asking me about how I got Sharingan?"

Sasuke muttered something in response, face hidden behind an impassive mask,

"I need to go train." He said simply after a pause, getting up from his spot at the table, pushing his empty plate away.

"Sakura-chan, you said you'd give us—me—some advice about tree-climbing..." He said, trailing off due to the atmosphere that remained after Sasuke had left.

"Hai, Naruto." Sakura said, giving a basic overview of what you needed to do to complete the tree climbing exercise.

Naruto started to go, but then turned to Sakura. "If you don't want to tell me how you _really _know about his Sharingan, I don't care, but I just want you to know I knew that was a lie."

_He saw through my lie? _Kakashi thought, looking at Naruto _seemingly _lazily, _He __**has **__improved, or is it something else… ugh; I'll never understand my students._

_

* * *

_

**Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique (Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu)**

**Read, review, flame, and take a picture, review.**

**MD**


	7. Contact with the Enemy

_Yes, I believe that Haku's a girl, but that is not what me story's about. Of course, as I wrote this, I had this…desire to call Haku a girl… but I didn't. (I had to go back and correct some 'she's' that should've been 'he's'.)_

_And I know that Naruto's fox isn't a kekkei genkai… but … it worked in the sentence… Okay? _

_This is sorta not a Sakura/Naruto fic, but she did watch him __**die, **__so…_

_O-O I was so stupid and did a MAJOR typo at the end. Sorry... I fixed it._

* * *

_**Contact with the Enemy**_

* * *

Sakura sighed. 

She hated lying to her friends; she hated keeping secrets from both Naruto and Sasuke, who had no doubt figured out that what Kakashi-sensei said had been a lie. And, on top of that, she had no idea how to stop the 'battle on the bridge' that was soon to come.

Overall, her day wasn't going very well.

-

Tazuna was annoyed.

This was the third… no fourth person to quit because of the dangers of building this bridge and Gato's threat. If they kept this up, it would soon be him and the kunoichi left to build the bridge.

Suddenly, said kunoichi got up and walked over, careful not to disturb any of the other workers' jobs.

"I could help." She said simply, "I need something else to think of right now."

_About the incident at Lunch? Or something different?_ "Sure, how well do you know tools?"

"I'm okay with them."

-

Sasuke and Naruto stumbled into the house that night.

They were supporting each other out of what seemed like necessity, and it also seemed that Naruto was going to be the first one to collapse, Sasuke soon after. But they made it to the table and started to eat as if their exhaustion would be fixed magically by the food on the table. Sakura was watching this with a hint of amusement, so Kakashi decided that this wasn't going to hurt the boys later on… well, more than a stomachache.

It soon turned into a full-blown eating competition, and as soon as Tsunami _ran out _of cooked food, they raced each other up to the bedrooms.

-

Naruto wasn't there in the morning.

"He… might've gone out for some training." Sakura said when the question came up, "I'll go look for him."

"But… breakfast?" Tsunami asked, but she was already out the door.

"She'll get some later." Kakashi said, reading his book to get his thoughts off of Sakura and… everything.

-

Naruto had never really told her about Haku in the forest, so… it came as a really big surprise when Sakura found someone else's chakra signature along with Naruto's in an area of forest a couple meters away from the training ground.

But as soon as she sensed the chakra signature, she suspected it Haku's.

_Wow, I just wanted to not be so… indifferent about Naruto this time, and I run into __**Haku**_

The chakra signature seemed to be coming towards her, but she wasn't sure… _If it isn't Haku, just one chance that was never there, and I can stop worrying about it._

-

Sakura noticed first that there was someone walking down the path, and her or his voice.

"Oh, and, I'm a boy."

Naruto's shock was almost solid, she could _feel _it radiating from the ramen-loving boy.

_Okay, so that __**is **__Haku…now I just have to convince him that fighting us will…_

Only then did she realize how _un_planned this plan was.

_But I have to chance it, then_

She went a couple of meters back up the road, and waited, cursing herself for not thinking this through. This was probably not going to end well.

_Oh well, but this has to be quick, I still have to get Naruto._

-

Haku stopped right beside the pink-haired kunoichi, not even bothering to look at her.

"You were waiting for me?" He said, more a statement than a question.

The girl stepped in front of him, meeting Haku's eyes.

"Gato's going to betray you." She said, startling him.

_How does this girl even __**know **__that I work for Gato? _

He just continued to walk, pushing past the kunoichi… until she jumped in front of him and cracked the ground._Maybe she does have something to offer me… I'll listen. _

"Gato, your employer, is going to betray you and kill you even if you manage to take us down… he's going to send a whole group of ninja after you and kill you because you're taking too much money for this job." She said bluntly, and if all of Haku's attention wasn't on the kunoichi before, it sure was now.

"What?" He asked, putting down the herbs and turning towards the girl fully.

"Listen… my name's Haruno Sakura, and I know you're working with Zabuza, Haku, right?" The girl—Sakura asked, but she seemed to know anyway. He nodded, processing her words fully. _They must know that Zabuza's still alive._

Almost as if Sakura had read his mind, she stated, "We, me and my team, know that Zabuza's alive, and that you're going to attack again on the bridge. Don't. What could killing Tazuna accomplish for _you, _except a battle that you might not survive though? And an even harder battle against Gato afterward?"

"We need the money, now, if you excuse me—" There was no way that these Kohona-nin could win against _both _him and Zabuza, even if they lost the advantage of surprise.

"Listen! Both Sasuke and Naruto have… kekkei genkai of sorts. They're really, really powerful with their respective kekkei genkai. You _can't beat them." _It was her trump card, Haku knew it, but a good trump card.

"What… kind of kekkei genkai? Of sorts?" He asked, once again forgetting his desire to leave.

"It's just… powerful. Naruto's is so powerful he's hated by most of our village for it. Sasuke's is the last of its kind… well, sort of, and he's on the second level or something. They are too powerful, and Kakashi-sensei is stronger than what you saw last time. Even I would be hard to beat if you _do _manage to take out Naruto and Sasuke, which I doubt."

Haku considered this. Her strength was formidable… but, was it enough to beat him? And did her friends really have a kekkei genkai? But… they had obviously found out about his plans, but how? And Gato, he did expect Gato to turn on them. But how _did _she find out about this?

"Okay, what do you want?" He sighed, slightly annoyed at himself for underestimating his opponents.

"I want you to leave with this," She tossed a bag to Haku, and he swiftly caught it, "After… _after _you kill Gato and fight us."

"Why?"

"Fighting us will draw Gato out into the open, right? But you have to make it convincing, and I'll see what I can say to Naruto and Sasuke about this… but I have more money where that came from, and you can still get paid for you're troubles by taking out Gato. Not only that, but this place," She waved her arms in the vague direction of the town, "will probably support you for killing Gato, even if it's just supplies and such… stuff you'll undoubtedly need in the long run."

"Hmm." Haku paused, hearing Naruto start to get up and walk towards them. "I guess you'll see tomorrow, then." He said, picking up his herbs, and disappeared.

-

_That went well. That went extremely well. _

Sakura was currently heading back with Naruto, she had persuaded him to come back with her for breakfast, and then go train. Sasuke was probably already there, so she tried to detour the area, but Naruto stopped her.

"Isn't Sasuke-teme already training?" He asked, starting to run forward, then turned and said, "I'll see you guys for lunch." Then he ran off in the direction of Sasuke, leaving behind Sakura.

---

_Naruto and Sasuke mastered tree climbing, so… lets just see if my ever-standing luck holds up with Kakashi-sensei too._

It was the next morning, and the 'battle on the bridge' was drawing closer. But if it would also be 'the slaughter on the bridge' was hard to determine. Sakura hadn't told Kakashi-sensei of her plans yet, and she was afraid that he'd reject them and attack anyway. But her fear was groundless, because as she brought it up he just stared at her, and finally said,

"Let me get this straight. You made contact with the enemy, gave him _my _money, promised him more, and _still _didn't get a _promise _out of him?"

"I got a half-promise. The same as—to an extent—you. I trust you as much as I trust them." She replied, and she did. Kakashi-sensei was very… iffy on her trust because she didn't know if he'd tell the Sandaime yet.

He sighed, "I guess, but if they attack me and I feel that they didn't keep the promise, you can't stop me from attacking them."

---

_Whee! Another Chapter done! Will Zabuza and Haku attack them with the intent to kill? Next up in this slow-moving arc—not ark—is the last one: Battle on the Bridge!_

_I wouldn't deny my readers a fight, would I? Or not?_

_MD_


	8. Battle on the Bridge

_Hehe… Kakashi wanted to attack himself in the last chapter… I fixed it, but "…you can't stop me from attacking me…" Kakashi's gone; he's crazy… like me for not seeing that typo. I fixed it though, Ms. Fixit I am. (I'm also Green Eggs & Ham)_

* * *

**Battle on the Bridge**

* * *

Sakura guarded Tazuna until lunch, when the Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke arrived. They were going to help build the bridge, in response to the many quitting… it was going to be hard enough building the bridge with the full task force… and much harder without it. 

But when the arrived to the bridge, they found all of the workers sprawled across the half-finished bridge.

_Stay calm. They might be… unconscious…_

But she didn't have time to go check, because on the opposite side of the bridge appeared Zabuza and Haku standing slightly beside and behind him.

Haku's mask was on, covering his face in a hunter-nin like look. Kakashi-sensei spoke up first,

"So, he _did_ betray us." He muttered, meaning two different things depending on who was listening to him, and then he spoke up so that Zabuza could hear, "Looks like you and that tracker-nin are acquainted."

"Kakashi… not happy to see us? I thought you knew this would happen." Zabuza chuckled, wielding his giant sword for show. "Haku, why don't you take off the mask, you're not pretending to be a tracker-nin anymore, so…"

Haku just stood there, looking at Sakura, "I'm fine."

"Okay, then… **Mizu Bunshins.**" He did the appropriate handsigns, creating about five to surround the Kohona-nin and their client. Sasuke, eager to fight, leapt forward, destroying all of the Bunshins in a flash, dashing around the group with his kunai raised. They all collapsed almost at once, and Sakura took her place in front of Tazuna as Kakashi-sensei dashed after Zabuza as Sasuke clashed with Haku.

-

Sasuke was having trouble.

That… Haku person, he had heard Zabuza call him, was fast and dangerous with his senbon needles.

And now that these ice mirrors were hovering around him, Haku inside them, throwing multiple senbon at he Uchiha, he was having even more trouble.

_Naruto, get here and help us already_.

-

"So, Kakashi, how are your students doing?"

"Not very good, thanks to you, now if I could…" Kakashi started, but was cut off.

"Sorry, I can't do that."

And the mist obscured the bridge.

-

_Wha? What? Were am I?_

Naruto sat groggily up…

…to the sound of a scream.

It sounded like Tsunami, followed closely by the sound of Inari and Tsunami's voices, and then…

**Enemies!**

He jumped up, ignoring the fact he had pajamas on, and ran downstairs to find two ninja leaving with Tsunami. They didn't seem to know Naruto was there, and that was all for the better. Inari was running after them, and he didn't seem to know Naruto was there either. Pulling on his orange… clothing as he went, he ran after the two ninja, catching up with them at the docks, where Inari was yelling something to them. He didn't listen to what Inari was saying, though, as he did the necessary handsigns for a substitution jutsu.

As the kunai was driven through Inari, it ended up being stuck in a log, along with a cloud of smoke from between the two ninja. They turned, and, finding the woman not there, turned back to the orange-clad ninja standing across from them.

"Looking for her? Or him?" He asked, laying Tsunami beside him and making Inari get behind him. "Well, you can't have'm!"

"Like you can do anything against us." One of the ninja said in a gloating manner, "What can you do against us?"

"I already have done something!"

'**thump'**

Both ninja collapsed, Naruto's **Kage Bunshin **standing proudly behind them. Naruto looked at Inari, but half of him was wondering, _why do people always underestimate me?_

"I think you can take care of this now, can't you? Because I have to _kill_ my team for _leaving me behind_!"

-

"So… your student, the Kunoichi, is very clever. How exactly did she know all that about Gato and such?" Zabuza said from the mist, just as Kakashi was about to make attack to try and clear the mist.

"She wasn't clever enough, I still have to fight you."

"You don't trust that Haku sticks by his word? We have to pretend to fight so we can draw Gato out, right?" Zabuza asked, his shadowy form becoming visible through the mist, "So, care for a sparring run?"

Kakashi was somewhat shocked for the second time that mission, though this wasn't nearly as bad as he was when Sakura told him her secret she had been keeping from everyone. "You mean, you're going to help?"

"Well, yes. She did draw up some very valid points. But it doesn't seem that dark-haired student knows about the plan… is it only you and the kunoichi?"

"Hai, she didn't get to tell Naruto and Sasuke yet."

Zabuza suddenly rushed him from the mist, and the resounding clang of the sword against a kunai echoed across the bridge. "Then we have to spar rough, don't we? And I guess Haku will be a little rough with your students, but that could count as experience."

Another clash resounded through the mist.

-

Something was wrong… no, something was right.

Sakura was sure—positive that the battle going on between Sasuke and Haku wasn't nearly as one-sided as it had been. Haku was letting Sasuke get a few hits or fire jutsu in. _But that means… they're on our side!_

She was so relieved that she almost missed the entrance of Naruto. It was a lot subtler than it had been, but still resulted with Naruto being thrown into the crystal ice mirrors, only _thrown_. By Haku. He must have a plan for the two of them. This might just work!

-

Naruto mentally beat himself up for getting thrown into the weird ice domes with Sasuke-teme.

But, while he was beating himself up, Sasuke started talking of a plan.

"Listen, dobe, I need you to run at Haku with as many **Kage Bunshins **as you can, okay?"

"Why?" Naruto asked, wary that Haku—was that his name? —was watching them silently.

"I've been observing him when… just do it." Sasuke trailed off, elbowing Naruto up.

"Oo-kay." Naruto responded, doing handsigns, ending with the ram, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

-

Haku was impressed.

_That many shadow clones. That in itself can be counted as a 'sort of' kekkei genkai, but I'm sure that's not what Sakura meant._

He started traveling from mirror to mirror, knocking the orange knucklehead back from getting to his special mirrors.

_They must not know what's going on, only Sakura and…she must've told her sensei, but if she…_

He paused as the blonde genin pushed himself up, and listened for sounds from the mist.

_The clashing of metal… not Zabuza's style… the sensei must know, then._

The kid charged again, creating just as many **Kage Bunshins **as the first time. Haku zipped from mirror to mirror, and noticed that the dark-haired genin was watching…watching him? They were only brief glimpses, but…

-

_"…Both Sasuke and Naruto have… kekkei genkai of sorts…"_

-

_Of course! He must have some kind of kekkei genkai involving the eyes, but he's not a Hyuuga…_

"Hey, Uchiha-teme, this isn't working!"

"Just do it again, dobe."

_…An Uchiha? With Sharingan? So the perverted reader isn't the only Sharingan user here._

"Alright… but I'm not sure how much good it will do."

_So, Uzumaki, what's your kekkei genkai 'of sorts'? Will I see it in this battle?_

Haku once again leapt from the crystal ice mirrors, knocking back the **Kage Bunshins **and the real Uzumaki. But Haku was wary of the Uchiha, now, and proceeded to do the most erratic pattern and went as fast as he could between the mirrors.

-

Sasuke was stumped for a moment.

_He's going faster…and faster. I can't watch him anymore… it's way…way to fast for the water droplets to **move. **_

-

_I should 'finish' this quickly, starting with the Uzumaki. Sorry._

Haku flitted from mirror to mirror throwing needles at the most paralyzing parts of the body. _Shins, arms, back of the hands._

But when he threw the two needles that would 'kill' the Uzumaki, the Uchiha ran forward, and the needles embedded themselves in his neck instead. No… one was in his neck… the other was buried in his chest, if not his heart.

The Uchiha fell, and the chakra erupted.

-

Kakashi, in mid strike with Zabuza, dropped his kunai and turned when he felt the demon's chakra.

"What is _that?"_ Even through the thick mist, the glow of red was visible.

"Hold that thought, Zabuza." Kakashi quickly checked for his student's chakra, sorting through the layers of corrupted chakra for the dim blue glow of Naruto's. He found it, but it was flared with anger.

"Naruto." Kakashi replied simply, reassuring himself as he said it. The two had been chatting aimlessly as they traded blows, and had actually became 'sort of' friends… but he was still the enemy till the end of this battle. "I'm not sure… Sakura could deal with it…" Kakashi trailed off, staring at the place where the chakra faded into the mist.

"What? Deal with what?"

"Naruto won't kill Haku, I highly doubt that, and even if he tries to, Sakura has the power to stop him." Not only that, but Gato would be a little suspicious if the two enemies started to help each other.

Kakashi turned, and brought his kunai down on the metal of Zabuza's sword.

-

"**I… I'm gonna kill you!"**

Haku was now truly afraid… one of the only times in his life he had ever been. The other had been at his father's hands, but even then, he didn't have this irrational fear that swept over him at he sight of the Uzumaki.

_Now… now I know what you meant by…_

-

Naruto pummeled his faceless foe with a series of rage-enhanced punches, the last one cracking the mask. But Naruto either didn't notice, or didn't care.

He rushed Haku, and he could vaguely hear Sakura in the background, yelling at him to stop. But he didn't, and he continued to run, red chakra glowing around his fist, making this blow fatal.

But it never connected.

-

Haku stared at the fist; it was no longer glowing, no longer moving, no longer dangerous. The boy's fist slowly lowered, and he uttered one word.

"Sis?"

"Huh?" Then he remembered what the Uzumaki had put at the end of every sentence in their last conversation.

"What… why? I mean… you? But you didn't try to kill me in the forest? Do you have double personalities or something?" He asked, scrutinizing Haku.

"I am of no use anymore…" He said, cutting off of the blonde, just pretend what you would say if this **normally **happened. But as talked, it sounded more and more dim-witted to him, "I am a broken tool… no more use to Zabuza. Kill me."

-

Naruto cocked his head for a moment, "Hai, Hai, I knew it! See, now you're emo!"

_Then, is Sasuke really dead?_

-

_Sasuke!_

Sakura ran forward, bringing Tazuna with her, and knelt beside Sasuke. He was covered in needles, but…_no, no_… one was in his chest. She grasped it, ripping it out, and took the one in his neck out too.

_His heart's… bleeding… bleeding?_

She then started to heal.

-

"Listen, Uzumaki, you've got to kill me! I am a broken tool, I'm of no use to anyone anymore. I have no life purpose, and to live without purpose… is not worth living."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, and then said, "That's some messed-up logic, Haku… I mean, sis. I'm not gonna do it."

The clearing of the mist cut Haku's reply short. Visible was a hunched, dark figure and the silver-haired jounin. They did play rough.

-

_"Well, if this works out, both of us may get injured, right. The Kohona-nin might use advanced jutsu just to make it look real. They should keep their promise if we keep ours. Just, if I end up injured and need your help… I'll yell or something like that… before that, don't attack."_

-

But Zabuza was conscious, and definitely not yelling, so he continued to try to plead with Naruto until…

_'**kht'**_

He saw the arrow, heading straight for Tazuna. Sakura didn't notice it, she was kneeling over the Uchiha, and, as if in slow motion, Tazuna turned… to see a mirror in front of him.

-

Naruto watched as Haku used one of the mirrors to teleport himself, helpless, as the arrow pierced his chest.

-

All battle on the bridge stopped.

* * *

(_1) My spell checker tried to translate "Oo-Kay" to Kooky. And hooky. And Pokey. And Low-key. And then 'poke me.'_

_(2) Naruto just Calls Haku 'sis' to be annoying._

_(3) You are all going to kill me for this, aren't you?_

_(4) The next episode is "Going Home"_

_(5) I'm going to go hide now._

_MD_


	9. Going Home

_Okay people, I have decided that my updates will be slightly slower, and I will be more descriptive. Not in this one, but in future chappies._

_I actually __**love**__ writing this story, unlike my old HP one, so I won't update too far in between… at most… 6 days? But that would only be over school weeks, on days off, I could probably update once a day on __**good **__days. This is sort of filler, just tying up the fight--- Yawn --- and… I can't tell you…_

_No, this is not a kakashi/sakura fic... that was a TYPO!_

_

* * *

__Going Home_ _

* * *

_Sakura had to make a decision. 

She would save both of them, at the cost of herself if need be.

"_Naruto! Take care of Gato's men!_" She screamed, laying Haku down and removing the arrow slowly, through his clothes as well. She placed it to the side, it wasn't poisoned, relying on Naruto and the others to cover her and protect Tazuna. She then moved back to Sasuke, forcing enough chakra into her hands to burn her twelve-year-old arms, scattering angry red marks where chakra strained her chakra points. She felt his pulse as she tried to force life into his heart, much like a shock does to someone in Cardiac Arrest. When she felt his pulse start up, weak, but still there, she gave a mental sigh of relief, though nothing showed on her face as she turned back to Haku, starting to heal him too at a much slower rate, being more thorough, despite the pain in her arms.

"Tazuna, remove all of the needles from Sasuke, and then bring some water to me." She ordered, realizing that Haku needed healing fast to stop liquid from entering his lung more than it already had. She increased her chakra output to fit Haku's needs, burning her arms even more in the process.

-

Kakashi immediately ordered the dogs to let go of Zabuza when Gato appeared. They had been holding him convincingly enough, even biting him lightly to make blood run down Zabuza's body, but not enough to hurt him badly. The missing-nin stood slowly, looking over his shoulder at the army of ninja, "Your orange student, Kakashi, is going after all of Gato's men. Do you want to help him?" He informed Kakashi, eyes lingering on the fallen Haku for a moment.

Kakashi didn't even have to nod. Both ninja took off towards the opposite side of the bridge.

-

Naruto was up against _a lot _of ninja.

Luckily he had his **Kage Bunshins, **but he was getting low on his chakra reserves, despite the boost he had gotten earlier, _thanks_ to, he suspected, Kyuubi. There was a man near the back, looking like he was preparing himself to gloat. _Gloat?_

_I'm going to wipe that—_

He started forwards on Sakura-chan's orders, but was stopped by Kakashi-sensei and the other jounin…Zabuza? _But… he's helping us?_ Kakashi-sensei gripped Naruto's shoulder, so that when he tried to start forward again, he was easily pulled back.

"Not yet, Naruto, we don't need Gato getting away when he's so close."

"What?" Naruto started to ask a question, but was cut off by the arrival of who he guessed was Gato, with his dark glasses and short form, he stood out from the tall and strong _looking _ninja with him, even if the difference was more embarrassing than anything.

"Not yet…" Kakashi whispered. Gato seemed to be heading over to Haku, Sasuke-teme and the others. "Not just yet."

"It seems the 'demon of the mist' is really just a 'kitten of the mist' after all." He gloated, sneering in Zabuza's direction. He then strutted to where Sakura-chan knelt over Haku. When he raised his foot, as if to kick Haku, Sakura reached up, on hand still over Haku's chest, and grabbed the man's foot. With a sickening crack that probably meant that all the bones in his foot were broken, she threw him to the side at least five feet. All without looking up from her work.

Gato clutched his leg in pain, trying to stand at least partway up. Indignant from being hurt like that, especially by a little girl, commanded, "Get them! Attack!"

-

Zabuza, enraged that Gato would do that to Haku, immediately rushed forwards just as the other ninja did, Kakashi and the orange kid, Naruto, right beside him. But while they, with the help of dozens of **Kage Bunshins, **started to take care of the ninja, Zabuza took his sword… and came for Gato. He backed away, looking from side to side in a panic, but he was alone. There were no ninja with him this time to do the dirty work, no one to back his big mouth up this time.

And The Demon of the Mist was coming for him.

And he wasn't going to get away.

-

Naruto and Kakashi launched into battle, but most of the ninja had already ran away, the few that were left wouldn't even be a challenge to one Naruto, let alone the two dozen others who had intimidated Gato's smarter ninja into running away to the boat at the far end of the unfinished bridge. Kakashi was also using imitation with his few shadow clones, but it seemed that just the presence of the jounin focused on them was enough cause for fear.

-

Inari had come just a little to late to help the battle, but at least they were there… it just proved that the wave country _could _stand up for itself, they even got to see the end of Gato. And that was good enough for him.

---

Neither Haku nor Sasuke woke up that night.

And by morning, Kakashi was ready to go back to Kohona, but couldn't.

Not only had Sakura stayed up all night, exhausting her chakra supplies and eating soldier pills like candy, healing Haku and Sasuke, but Naruto, whatever possessed him to do so, stayed up with her.

Kakashi didn't, he trusted Sakura enough, and there was nothing he could do for the two now.

Neither did Zabuza, because, as soon as Haku was healed enough to carry, they both would be moving out to whatever goal they had on _Kakashi's _money.

"I hate you… almost as much as I hate Sakura for making that promise to you guys." He commented the next morning when Zabuza asked… no, demanded the money Sakura had promised Haku. Kakashi fished out the money, then brought up food to the four kids, even if two of them were out cold, but stable, from what Sakura had said earlier.

Sakura was still leaning over Haku, but she had fallen asleep a while ago, bandaged hand still over his arrow wound, _now a scar_, Kakashi noted. Naruto looked the same; only he was leaning on a table, a small pool of drool beside his mouth where it met the dark wood.

Kakashi, balancing two full trays in one hand, poked Sakura on the shoulder. She started, almost jumping out of the chair, then started to work on Haku as if Kakashi wasn't there. _She didn't… maybe she needs a little__**—a lot**__— more rest._

"Sakura?" He asked, setting down both trays on Haku's bed, almost touching the boy's legs.

She jumped again, and then looked up at Kakashi. "I'm almost done." She commented, hands lighting up with pale green healing chakra, "My chakra coils aren't advanced enough to take this, so I had to go slow, and the arrow went deep… very deep, and almost into the heart. It also managed to puncture the lung too, but how I don't exactly know."

Kakashi nodded, he knew how hopeless a case like that was… but she had still managed to do it, which was a miracle in itself. Briefly he wondered how strong a medic-nin she really _was, _but his thoughts were interrupted by her voice, continuing the medical report after Kakashi's nod.

"I can heal him, but his heart might fail later on, so…" She trailed off. "I'll wake up Naruto in an hour or so when I'm done. Just leave the food here." She ended, popping another soldier pill into her mouth.

-

About two hours later, Naruto led a limping Uchiha Sasuke into the dining room, and Sakura provided the medical report.

"His shin was injured badly, but that should be healed fairly soon." She said it in the professional voice that she used every time she gave a medical report, "The heart was healed and all other spots where senbon entered. Haku should be able to be moved by now, but he will have a rather ugly scar across his chest, and may have heart problems later on. He just woke up."

Zabuza looked up from his Lunch, "So I can see him?" He asked, then finished off his bowl.

_(A/N: XD I can imagine Zabuza eating lunch, hunched over a bowl, in a dining room… funny as…)_

"Yes, sir." She replied curtly, earning an odd look from Sasuke, who had obviously been out of it for the last couple days.

Zabuza got up, walking past her calmly, but, even in her wearied state, she could feel the anticipation coming off of him. She guessed he really wanted to see Haku again… but… he _did _almost die.

-

The morning after that, Zabuza and Haku departed after another healing session with Sakura.

She still had bandages running up and down her arms, covering the burns that she hadn't healed yet due to Sasuke's and, more importantly, Haku's wounds.

Kakashi decided that, since the bridge was done, thanks to the help of him and 'the demon of the mist', they would be departing, despite the fact that Sakura was exhausted and Sasuke was limping. _They can recuperate in Kohona; we should end this mission and get back to the village._

-

Sakura didn't think she could make it home to Kohona.

The soldier pills wore off, bringing the extreme exhaustion with it.

About the same time they were three hours from Kohona, she felt the effects, but she continued to walk on, relying on pure willpower to get her to the leaf village. The others must've noticed the way she was walking, in a half-daze, because Naruto ended up carrying three packs—Sakura's, Sasuke's, and his own heavy backpack.

She collapsed about a kilometer from Kohona.

-

Naruto noticed her fall, and caught her just in time before she hit the ground. "I… don't think I can carry Sakura-chan too." He admitted, gesturing towards his tower of packs, at least as high as Kakashi.

Frankly, Kakashi didn't think either Sakura _or _Naruto would've lasted this long, but he didn't comment, just taking Sakura. Sasuke wasn't in any position to carry anything, he was still limping, despite his own protests that he could carry his bag, not the _dobe. _

-

The gate guards met them at the Kohona gate, the two chunnin jumping down from their respective posts to offer to take Sakura to the hospital, as well as Sasuke. Kakashi refused, he would've rather done it himself, plus, anything would be better than the mission debriefing that was sure to follow, and the questions that the Sandaime Hokage was bound to ask.

Sasuke limped beside him, trying his best to keep his dignity, despite the fact that, right now, he was the most undignified person there, limping beside his teacher. The villagers were staring at them, and the tension in the air was almost solid. Naruto had departed to go see if Iruka was out of class yet, he wanted to tell his old sensei all about what happened during the bridge, and Kakashi didn't have time to warn him to be careful with what he said. _That's just another roadblock that's sure to come._

_The villagers are wondering what could've injured ninja this badly, probably more worried about Sasuke than Sakura, him being the __**'Uchiha Prodigy'. **_The more Kakashi thought of it as he walked, the more it seemed likely that Sasuke could betray the village. _But that was in another timeline, not this one._

-

After Kakashi dropped off Sakura and Sasuke off at the hospital, he went to tell the Sandaime Hokage about the mission… all of it.

------------------

_Dude I love these cliffhangers… I read in another fanfic one day, "Easy to write but hard to read"_

_Next chapter had starts the __**Chunnin Exams—Of Tests and Fights**_

_In case everyone's wondering, I __**will **__finish the flashbacks during the Chunnin Exams… And then I'll have a special surprise at the end --… But… I think I already told you it._

_MD_


	10. Of Tests and Promises

_People… I would like to ask you to ignore any typos. Please refer to the bottom of the screen for pairings or non-pairings. And I **never **said Haku was crippled… I'm just leaving the option if I **do **want to kill him. _

_I am… going to write a VERY, VERY long chapter involving all of the character deaths for you're personal enjoyment and a couple… short stories. Mostly about the tests Iruka put on the other teams… but there is one involving Neji and Hiashi's… old… dirty … underwear. That chapter will be filled with the stupid side of me I thinks._

----

**_Of Tests and Promises_**

----

Sakura vaguely registered that she was in some kind of hospital; she recognized the smell as soon as she started to regain consciousness. Trying, and failing, to sit up to clear her head, she heard someone rush over to her.

"Lay back down." It sounded like a woman's voice, and she opened her eyes slowly, the white room slowly coming into focus. A nurse, probably in her mid-twenties, was standing at the foot of her bed, seemingly trying to stare her into lying back down.

Sakura, instead of obeying the nurse, did a mental checkup of herself. _I'm still in my mission clothes, so I haven't been in here long… But the larger burns on my arms have been healed; so I've been here long enough for an available medic to come heal me. So that means I've been here a couple hours… and yet my chakra is half replenished already._

"I'm fine." The pink-haired kunoichi said, swinging her legs around so that she could get off the almost glowing white bed. But she never got up because the brown-haired nurse rushed over, pushing Sakura back down.

"We don't know if you're stable or not, you—"

"I'm fine. I checked." Right now her thoughts were on Kakashi-sensei, and what he had said at the mission debriefing… or what he was telling the Sandaime _now._

_I shouldn't have told Kakashi-sensei… I would've done better telling Naruto, or even Sasuke. Actually, telling Sasuke might snap him into focus a bit._

"Like I said, I'm fine." Sakura repeated, interrupting the nurse's protests to her trying to stand up, and how it might hurt the kunoichi.

"Well, you can't leave until a doctor comes in… If you try, I'll have to call in one of the medic-nin." The nurse said, erasing all thoughts of escaping to stop Kakashi, _unless I want to get caught and be questioned anyway._

-

Kakashi was stuck between a blood promise and loyalty to the village. He, as of that moment, was leaning towards loyalty. The blood promise, because he hadn't let any chakra out with the blood, wouldn't affect him if broken… his loyalty to the village on the other hand…

The jounin-sensei was currently standing outside the Hokage's office, while two groups of Chunnin were reporting back from a B-rank mission. As the lower-ranked ninja left the Hokage's office, one of them recognized Kakashi as the jounin that wouldn't pass him a couple years ago. It seemed he still held a grudge.

"Hey look! Kakashi! Stuck with a genin team, no less!" The kid's voice _still _hurt to listen to, "I bet you just got back from your _C_-rank mission," Here the blue-haired Chunnin paused to yawn dramatically, "Hope you had a good time guarding some old _drunk _to go build a _bridge! _Me, personally, would've left the economy of that run-down county the way it was. The leaf village might've been able to take it in a couple years." Here he paused vividly, the other Chunin behind him. A couple of the less arrogant ones were shaking their heads, while the younger ones, obviously part of Shoudou's team, were chuckling. "When _I'm _Hokage."

_And this is why I didn't pass any of them. _Kakashi mentally sighed, then responded, "You have competition, Shoudou, for the title of Hokage." He said, starting to walk forward, right past the gloating teen, "A boy named Naruto, my student. Genin. He could probably beat you in a spar right now." He left it like that as the angry Chunnin stared after him, finally turning and walking down the hall in a fit of rage.

As Kakashi entered the office, he saw that Sarutobi-sama was… well, it looked like he had been watching the encounter between Kakashi and his ex-students, but… that had ended a couple of minutes ago, and the third was still staring into his crystal ball.

Kakashi waited politely, the question: '_tell him or not' _still echoing in his head, even though he _seemed_ to have convinced himself to tell the Sandaime.

But the old Hokage beat him to it.

"Kakashi," He started, looking up from his crystal ball—_He could peek with that thing— _worry and… _confusion? _Etched onto his features. "Can you tell me more about Haruno Sakura?"

-

Kakashi didn't reply right away, but then said, "She's smart, and can come up with plans easily… she's the best out of the three in chakra control…"

He trailed off as he noticed Sarutobi-sama staring at him with a scrutinizing look. "I know that you're leaving something out, Kakashi." He commented lightly, but his eyes conveyed dead seriousness.

Kakashi sighed. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you… After the Chunnin exams perhaps…but I made a blood oath…"

"I see…"

And in fact, Sarutobi _did _see. There was a theory… that the fourth _knew _that the Kyuubi was going to attack, but only a couple weeks before. Even the third himself had noticed something off about the Yondaime the last few weeks before the sealing of the demon fox.

Maybe, just maybe, the Yondaime played that battle twice.

And maybe, just maybe, Haruno Sakura was doing the same thing.

He only hoped that Sakura would make the right choices.

"Well then, Kakashi, how did the mission go?"

---

"I, Hatake Kakashi, nominate all three genin on my team for the chunnin exams."

"You… must be joking, Kakashi!" Came a voice from another jounin. "I had to hold _my _team back a whole year before doing this! At least let them enjoy their youth a little longer."

"Guy, my team should meet your's for a sparring mission one day… I'm sure it would be good practice for them." Kakashi replied, earning a shocked glance from Kurenai.

"You can't be seroius about _that, _Kakashi. Your team might be good, but… are they that good?"

"Yep." Was his simple reply, but if he had wanted to say anything else, he was interrupted by Iruka, who had stepped forward when Guy voiced his challenge.

"I _taught _them!" Shouted Iruka, "They aren't ready for this!"

"Iruka, they're not your students anymore, they're mine." Kakashi said simply, "Plus, Naruto's already done his first kill… and Sakura I'm pretty sure has too."

"Wh-what!?"

"It's true, Iruka." Sarutobi-sama interrupted quietly, "A mislabled mission. A-rank, but entered as a C-rank. Survived with minor, fast-healing injuries." He paused, thinking, "But… if you want to _test _them…"

-

Gaara was thoroughly disgusted with his…siblings. _Do they want to draw attention to themselves by messing with **little kids?**_

The dark genin was staring at him, surprised, everything else forgotten as a series of emotions played over his face.

The orange kid… there was something about him… had managed to get to Kankuro and land a solid punch in the puppet manipulator's stomach.

And the kunoichi was seeping enough killing intent to make a jounin proud.

"I… I'm sorry Gaara, really sorry." Kankuro stuttered when Gaara reprimanded him.

_Hmm… this team might be worth watching in the long run. _Gaara thought, and then used sand to teleport himself down to their level, facing the Kohona team.

"You guys must be entering in the Chunnin Exams, right?" The pink-haired girl said, more a statement than a question. "We are."

"Yes…we are." Gaara said then glanced at the dark one, who had just jumped down from the tree, "Sabaku no Gaara. You?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." He replied, and then the others introduced themselves.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Haruno Sakura."

"Well," Gaara continued, "I'll see you in the Chunnin Exams, then."

-

"What did you do that for? We aren't in the Chunnin Exams." Sasuke addressed Sakura after the other ninja were out of sight.

"We've done an A-rank mission… I'm pretty sure that Kakashi-sensei will nominate us."

-

Iruka appeared beside Kakashi around noon. He was sitting on the rooftop reading one of his books, but more or less waiting for Iruka's report.

"All…of _your _students passed… and you weren't lying when you said Sakura no longer likes Sasuke."

"What did she say?" Kakashi asked, amused.

"She said, 'Sasuke, Sasuke… didn't I tell you I was over you? I'm not interested.' Like it was the simplist thing in the world for her. Then she continued and said she _wasn't _backing out of the Chunnin Exams, no matter how much Sasuke _begged._" Here Iruka paused, as if waiting for Kakashi to say something, but the silence continued, "Sasuke and Naruto did as you expected… but where did Naruto learn a _Katon _jutsu?"

_(A/N: Explaination at end of Chapter for Sakura part.)_

"He's been training with Sasuke. Those two _are _rivals, but they help eachother out with tatics and jutsu, always trying to outdo eachother with the other's best jutsu."

"Well, tell him to be careful with it. I had to go back and put out the forest fire that he had started… even if it only spread to a few trees."

"Hm…" Kakashi trailed off, but inside he was pretty much having a laughing fit. "Well, don't you have… the other students to do? The Sandaime asked you to test all of the rookies."

"Hai." He replied, dissapearing.

-

"It's a genjutsu." Sakura whispered in Naruto's ear as Team Seven obserbed the crowd gathered around the door to the 'Chunnin Exams'… just keep walking." And that's what Team Seven did… walked right through the crowd and up the next flight of stairs, Sakura calling over her shoulder, "It's a genjutsu, you guys. The room for the candidates is up here."

"Well, that's one test passed." The 'kid' whispered to the other one.

"I guess Kakashi wasn't lying about his team."

-

Kakashi-sensei met them at the door to the first part of the Chunnin Exams… Sakura had _perposely _avoided letting Sasuke fight Lee… they could do that and be late some other time.

"Good, you all came." Kakashi-sensei said, looking at each of the genin in turn over his book. "I was afraid at least one of you _wouldn't _show up, but that fear was groundless, I see."

"Hai." Sakura said, as Kakashi-sensei dissappeared.

"Well then! What are we waiting for? Lets Go!" Naruto said loudly, and the two boys pushed open the door…

-

Gaara looked up as another team entered, immediately reconizing the orange genin from before. The one that had managed to hit Kankuro.

_So they **did **apply for the Chunnin Exams. _

-

Kabuto paused in observing the Rookie…Six, as it was now, to see which team was coming in next.

_Team Seven._

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Kabuto supposed that Sakura didn't have any memory… if she did, he would have been captured by a couple dozen ANBU by now. _That's just even better. _He commented to himself as Naruto stared in awe at the pure _amount _of genin there, and how firce they all looked.

_This is going to be easier than I first thought._

-

Sakura felt like she wanted to kill Kabuto.

Actually, she wanted to do more than kill him, she wanted to give him all the pain that he gave her friends and herself.

But she couldn't, so she didn't.

_But as soon as we get into the Forest of Death…_

She left the thought there, not wanting to betray herself from the emotions that were sure to play across her face at those thoughts.

-

Sasuke was… oberving the other competetors. What village they are from, how many Kunoichi in their ranks, how arrogant or nervous they looked, or if some held their emotions in check… all of these played a part in which teams were most likely to advance.

Except his observation of the other teams was interrupted by a unknown person latching itself to his shoulders and hanging over him, yelping into his ear.

"Sasuke! Where have _you __**been?**_" Here she paused to give a little laugh and hug Sasuke closer. He regonsized the voice that he had hoped to never hear again. Ino. Even more annoying than Sakura… had been. "Boy, you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up here. I've missed those brooding good looks of yours." She paused again, and just as Sasuke was about to pull away, she continued, "I do hope that Forehead hasn't been treating you _too _badly."

Sasuke shook her off, and turned, annoyed, "I would much rather have _her _on my team than you." He said simply as Shikamaru and Choji approached, the latter with a bag of open potato chips. Ino looked extremely horrified as, in her opinion, her future husband insulted her. (_A/N: Shikamaru! Wheee! Third Fav!) _

"You guys are here too? How troublesome." Shikamaru commented, followed closely by Kiba and the rest of team eight. (_A/N: Shino! Squee!)_

"Looks like all Nine Rookies are here, huh, Akamaru?" The dog gave an affirmative bark as the other's attention turned to the Inuzuka.

"Yep!" Yelled Naruto loudly, then turned to the _entire _room full of Chunnin. "And I'm going to beat all of you and get to Chunnin rank!"

-

_Ugh, Idiot… Baka._

Ino immediately took that opportunity to get on Sakura's nerves, despite the fact that every ninja in the room was seeping killing intent.

"Forehead, tell your _boyfriend _to shut his big mouth!"

But instead of the reply she suspected, she got, "He's not my boyfriend." Said Sakura, "But… I _will _tell him to shut up." With that Sakura directed her attention to Naruto, but someone beat her to telling the baka to shut up.

-

Kabuto had been watching the interaction between the two girls, and decided that this would be the opportune moment to approach the group, like last time.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, feigning cheeriness, "These ninja could be dangerous if provoked, and I don't think you can beat _all _of them at _once_."

Haruno Sakura's eyes met his for a moment, but stayed silent.

_So she does remember._

**_---_**

_Wheee! Another Chappie done. Hope the 'blood oath' trick was believable… I thought it was… but he sort of… Uh… It didn't matter anyways, but that might just come up again later. Anyways, spell check doesn't work right now, so typos are very, very likely._

_Sakura is not exactly 'over' Sasuke as much as she admits, but she knew that was Iruka._

_I am very hyper right now._

_MD_

_--_

_NOTES:_

_Shoudou means 'impulse'. He might make some future appearances in my fanfic. I also wrote that part on 'impulse'… so… impulsive _

_--_

_This will not be a:_

_Student/Teacher (Even if Sakura is really 23 or so)_

_Naruto/Sakura _

_Sasuke/Anyone but Sakura (Doesn't mean it will be Sakura, though)_

_And I do not do major age differences._

_--_

_I think it will be a (But not until after the Chunnin Exams_

_Naruto/Hinata (But not like…really fast or whatever)_

_Neji/Ten_

_Sakura/ I don't know_


	11. Exam

_**Oh, I have a question that I was wondering about. Ino took over Sakura in the Written exams, so why couldn't she in the Chunnin Pre-finals? I mean, wouldn't 'inner Sakura' work just as good five days before as any?**_

_**I might, might, just write a little five or so chapter fic that goes with the idea I rose in the last chapter about the Yondaime (Writes down in Notepad)… but that might be a little harder to do than this fic…**_

_**--**_

_**Exams**_

_**--**_

"Can you show me Sabaku no Gaara, and…" Sasuke trailed off, glancing over at Sakura, "Any information you want? Naruto? Sakura?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head in thought, "Me… and you… and Sakura-chan."

"Hai." Sakura agreed, staring at the cards on the floor, "And…no, I don't have anything that I need to know other than what you two said." She finished, not looking up at Kabuto.

"Okay, then." He said, taking out a couple cards at once. He charged chakra into it through his pointer finger, and the card spun, evening out all the chakra in it.

The words slowly faded into the card, and Gaara's face was the first one. All of the stats on him Sakura remembered from last time, so she didn't really listen, waiting for her card to come up.

After Kabuto finished telling the others about Gaara, he handed each of the three Genin their respective cards.

-

Sasuke was just skimming over his, he knew everything about himself that he ever would… or not. '_Obtained Mangekyo Sharingan near death, but how is not certain, __**suspected **__best friend died at eighteen by a suicidal…'_

_What the h—_

_-_

Naruto, like Sasuke, was skimming over his, uninterested in information about himself… but one word stuck out… '_Kyuubi'_. He went back to read that passage again.

'…_Container of the __**Kyuubi, **__the nine-tailed fox. Died at eighteen, taking the fox with him, never…'_

_How does… He's not… What the h—_

_-_

Sakura read over her's quickly, this would just confirm if Kabuto knew anything or not. Not, she guessed, because her's had basic information on it. _I guess either he __**doesn't **__know or is hiding it from me… _

She sensed both Sasuke and Naruto tense at almost the exact same time. Before she could look over at theirs, Naruto was seemingly hiding his as well as Sasuke to an extent; but Kabuto took the cards away before she could get a good look.

_I'll have to confirm it later, but it seems that they just got their futures told. _She thought grimly, and she couldn't wait until the Forest of Death.

_-_

Kabuto took the cards back from the genins just as a poof of smoke erupted from the raised part of the floor ahead.

"Now listen up! I'm Morino Ibiki, examiner to the first part of the exam."

-

… _**Random **__drawing. None… none of the other teams got to sit together; of course this isn't a __**random **__drawing._

Thought Sakura, amazed that she didn't realize that until now, as Ibiki told everyone the rules of the test. _The even more amazing thing is that it's not even __**near **__random, everyone's sitting in the same spot as last time… including Kabuto._

She spotted the silver-haired genin ahead of her, then, before he could register her gaze, sought out Sasuke and Naruto. _Yep, same exact places… only this time Naruto might be able to cheat and not be so noble… he has the Chunnin right in front of him._

-

Gaara observed the other genin quietly, _Seems I'll need the eye to cheat… they won't catch that… or they might, but they probably won't do anything, if what I think of this test is right._

-

Sasuke inwardly smirked, _what to do, what to do… I have two choices. Sharingan… or… no, Naruto can do that if he thinks of it._

_Sharingan._

Eyes flashed red.

_-_

Neji was going to advance this with no problem.

_Byakugan. _He thought, doing the handsign inconspicuously.

-

_Oh no, oh no…oh no! What am I going to dooooo? I can't do written exams!_

Naruto was currently clutching at his hair, panicking at the test.

_I can't cheat, or Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme would fail if they catch me enough, and I can't… grrr… I can't answer the questions normally either…_

_-_

Kabuto jutted down the results, then sat back and waited for the tenth question.

_Too easy, and now that I've rattled the other two of Team Seven… it should be child's play for Orochimaru to get he curse seal on, but what will Sasuke and Naruto do when they…_

His thought trailed off.

_This is going to get interesting._

-

"Time for the tenth question." Ibiki called out over the brats as one returned from the bathroom. After a lengthy pause, in which a _very _panicked expression crossed his face, _the kid thinks he's caught, _Ibiki finally said, "Glad to see you back, I was about to disqualify your team if you weren't here." The panicked expression faded, replaced by something resembling relief.

The kid walked forward, dropping something on his teammate's desk. _Nice plan… did any of the proctors see it…no… they didn't. __**Sharpest **__eyes…_

"Now, you have a choice." Ibiki continued, "Take the tenth question, or quit and come back in six months."

There were mutterings from the genin.

"What?"

"But… that can't work."

"Why would we quit?"

"Something bad is going to happen, I know it… if we take the tenth question."

_Humph, you have no idea. _"If you chose to quit, you _can _come back in six months… but if you take the question, and fail it…" Here Ibiki paused, letting the tension build, "You—and your team—never get to take the Chunnin Selection Exams again."

"WHAT!?"

"That can't be right!"

"Never again… wow…"

You're all lucky that the proctor's aren't taking points off right now.

One kid stood up, placing a hand on the table in front of him, and challenged, "But that can't be right! There are other people here who have taken the exam _multiple_ times!"

"Well, you just got unlucky, didn't you? _I'm _the examiner this time, and what I say goes. Now… take the question or not? You can leave and the proctors will record the numbers of you and your teammates."

The silence stretched out for a couple minutes. Then, finally, someone raised his hand, the teammates sharing shocked expressions as their numbers were called out. When the kid apologized, the teammates just walked by, ignoring him.

That started a flood of numbers being called out by the examiners as hand by hand raised.

-

Naruto looked up from his test.

_One question… at least the others won't fail the tenth question, as long as…_

Naruto looked back at his two teammates, but neither seemed to want to raise their hands. But…Hinata, beside him, was about to raise her hand… and others.

_I guess I can give them a boost… plus, this guy has to be yelled at for giving everyone a nervous breakdown._

-

Ibiki inwardly winced as the orange one… he stood out remarkably from the others in the room… stood up _on _his desk, and proceeded to point and yell at the Chunnin Examiner.

"You can't do this! You have some messed up logic! And so what, if I fail the tenth question, I'll be the _first genin to __**ever **__become a Kage! _And then I'll _fire _you!"

"Very good, now, if you don't want to be disqualified, I suggest that you _sit down." _Ibiki said, hiding his impressed look that threatened to rise. _Not many would stand up to me like that._

-

"You all passed."

"What the—"

"What do you mean?"

"What was the last question supposed to be?"

"What just happened?"

"You passed, that's what happened. Sometimes, you have to take a chance; regardless of the risk it may give your team. Do you reject the mission because it may _be a risk to your life?" _Here Ibiki paused, but he didn't expect someone to _reply._

"No… no, you don't, and you shouldn't, no matter what." Said the pink-haired kunoichi quietly, and the orange genin agreed with her immediately.

"Hai, Sakura-chan is right!"

Ibiki continued, seemingly ignoring but still noting the genin's reply, "No! You don't! You do the mission, no matter how hopeless it may seem, and you risk your life to complete it!" He decided that now was the time to show the brats what being a _true _ninja might hold.

He removed his Headband. (Don't know what _he _wears is called.)

"This is what might happen on a mission, but you do _not back down, _no matter what." He said over the gasps of the genin…well, some might be Chunnin by the end of this. As he tied the headband back on his head, something crashed through the windows.

-

Sakura was probably the only genin in the room that didn't flinch when Anko busted in through the window, preceded by two Kunai and a banner with writing on it.

The rest, however, jumped, and then stared at Anko as she emerged, proudly declaring that she was the proctor of the Second Exam.

"I…got here a little early, didn't I?" She muttered at Ibiki, who had just emerged from behind the banner.

"I think so."

Anko looked dejected for a moment, then said loudly. "Meet me tomorrow for the next part of the exams! Your jounin-instructors will tell you where!" And disappeared.

There was silence for a moment, but then Ibiki said, "Well, you passed, didn't you, so leave and meet Anko tomorrow."

-

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke! Ramen?" He heard Sakura ask, she was running to catch up with the two boys, who were already heading for their respective apartments, Sasuke to think… and he guessed Naruto to eat Ramen.

Naruto immediately agreed, and then Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Well? We can go somewhere not _all _ramen if you like."

Naruto got a somewhat crestfallen look on his face, "Why can't just me and you go, Sakura-chan?"

"Hai, you two can go, I need to go train for whatever's going to happen tomorrow." Sasuke said before Sakura could say anything else. But instead of Sakura leaving him alone, like he hoped, she grabbed his arm and pulled him down the street, Naruto following behind.

"We can track down Kakashi-sensei and ask him where to meet, then we can guess what the second exam might _be._ It would give us an advantage tomorrow." Sakura explained, not letting go of Sasuke's arm.

-

_I have got to find out what they read, too._

-

Ibiki reported to the jounin-instructors—at least the leaf rookie teams—after he had picked up all the papers and tallied up the results. He guessed that the sensei wanted to know whether their students lived up to their expectations. The others were content to learn from the students.

When he entered the room, all three instructors were waiting for him.

"Well? How did they do?" Kurenai asked, looking up from… he guessed dozing. Asuma was, of course, smoking a cigarette, and Kakashi had his nose buried in a book.

"Your team passed… actually, Teams Seven, Eight, Ten, and Team Guy all passed." Ibiki said, then continued, "Team Seven, Uzumaki Naruto, when I did the 'impossible choice' and got to the tenth question, that kid stood up on his desk and said that even if he failed the tenth question, he would become Hokage and _fire _me."

Kakashi finally looked up from his book, "_Fire _you?" He said, and Ibiki nodded, but then Kakashi seemed to think for a moment, "What about Haruno Sakura? Uchiha Sasuke?"

"The Uchiha activated his Sharingan as soon as the test began… and Haruno… she answered all of the questions, something only a few did, like another leaf-nin, Yakushi Kabuto… which brings me to something else. I found that, multiple times, that girl would glance at the Yakushi genin. And every time she would send a small wave of killing intent, why?"

Kakashi was fully looking at him now, "What?"

"Small amount for a jounin, I mean."

Kakashi seemed to think for a moment, then abruptly said, "Anything else about my team?"

"…no…" Ibiki finally said. There was something, but for the amount of killing intent the jounin was raidiating now, he didn't want to make whatever it was worse, without knowing what it was _about_ first.

"Good, I can leave then."

-

Kakashi followed Naruto's chakra signature to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, and found Sakura and… Sasuke there. _Something… isn't exactly right._

"Sakura?" He asked, startling the girl. She turned to him, and Naruto and Sasuke turned with her. Now he noticed what had been missing… Naruto's voice. It had been nearly dead silent at the ramen bar when he came up, and even before.

Sakura got up and walked over to Kakashi, "What?" She whispered, "I already have a problem to deal with here."

_A problem? Well, couldn't she know how many **big **problems are coming up?_

Kakashi replied, "Well, does this have anything to do with the amounts of killing intent on a _Konoha _ninja? That could get you and the entire team disqualified during the written exam."

"Yes…" She said, then continued, "I think that Kabuto, a sound _spy_, also got sent back…"

---

_**See, It just didn't sound right… cries in corner**_

_**Anyways… Ja ne!**_

_**MD**_


	12. Suspicion

_Guy or Gai: That is the Spelling Question. I'll go with Gai for now._

* * *

**_Chapter Twelve: Suspicion_**

* * *

Sasuke's Sharingan flared red. _What are they talking about? Is it about that Kabuto person…and what those cards said?_

He concentrated on the newly polished pans and pots across from him, the reflection of Kakashi-sensei and Sakura clear in them. _I can probably read Sakura's speech, but I'll only catch a few lines of Kakashi-sensei's… his mask would get in the way._

He would try it, though.

-

"_Attack at the… of the Chunnin Exams… want to tell and lose advantage." _Sakura said, just as Sasuke, out of the corner of his eye, saw Naruto make the appropriate handsigns for a **Kage Bunshin. **His attention was drawn back to the conversation, watching the lips of his teammate and sensei, but still managing to look like he was eating the ramen in front of him.

"_Attack?" _Kakashi-sensei questioned, and Sakura looked guilty for a moment, and then replied:

"_Had advantage, but Kabuto… himself and he's from the… therefore, no advantage, actually…of a disadvantage. Sand kinda partners with—" _Here Sakura said something, and Sasuke didn't recognize the person, _O-roach-e-maru? Orochimaru? Who's that? I might've heard of him before in passing, but where? "—And invade. Naruto… them, mainly just Gaara, though…being a __Jinchuriki_ _… greatest threat. But Naruto trained with—" _Here she said another name Sasuke didn't recognize, _Jiraiya_… _I've heard that name too_, "—_… and he…so he could…him. We pulled through." _She answered. _"Then—"_

The cook of the stand passed in front of the pot, blocking his view for an agonizing minute.

"_Third… don't tell… advantage… lost or not… last time… through…go." _Kakashi-sensei replied, earning a shocked glance from Sakura. _"… Changed plans… major deaths?"_

"_Yes, the Sandaime." _Sakura finally said, but then quickly continued, _"…Damage, but not as many deaths… expected for something so big."_

Kakashi-sensei seemed lost in thought for a moment, then finally started to say something, but Sakura interrupted, _"We need Tsunade as the Hokage. So it's either find her or—"_

She in turn was interrupted by another ninja, a chunnin, appearing beside Kakashi. _"The Hokage requests the presence of you and all the other jounin in the village, immediately." _He said, and Kakashi-sensei nodded and disappeared, obviously noting the urgency in the ninja's stance and, apparently, voice.

As soon as Kakashi-sensei disappeared, another subtler poof a smoke rose from a nearby building, but soon dispersed. _Released Chakra._

Almost instantaneously, Naruto paled, and stopped eating ramen, pushing the bowl away.

-

Kakashi, in some stroke of rare and unexpected luck, arrived there before almost everyone else. The Sandaime Hokage looked at him for a minute from his seat behind his desk, _directly into the office, _but if he was going to say something, it was cut off but the arrival of almost all of the other jounin at once into the small office.

The Third cleared his throat and started to speak, "It seems that the Mizukage has been assassinated, something unheard of during a Chunnin Exam." He said, "And the culprit supposedly dropped Konoha money in the process…therefore the Chunnin Exams will proceed tomorrow, but that's where they'll end." He paused, but none of the gathered jounin said anything, "Something interesting to note." He continued, "All of the guards weren't dead, but put into a deathlike state with senbon needles."

Recognition hit Kakashi like a wave. _Zabuza and Haku. _He thought, but seemingly showed nothing.

"Well, that's all I want to tell you. Hayate, it seems we won't need to be an examiner this time."

"Well, that's okay!" Anko said, sounding more like a yell, "I'll still get to scare the brats tomarrow!"

-

When Sakura returned to the ramen stand, Naruto was gone, the payment for his ramen on the table beside the half-eaten bowl. Sasuke was sitting, his fingers interlaced in a thinking position, his bowl sitting almost untouched to the side.

"Where's Naruto?" She asked, feighing cheerfulness. _This isn't going well._

"He wasn't hungry." Sasuke replied bluntly, "And neither am I." He said, getting up, leaving pay for his bowl beside it, "I'll be leaving now."

-

Sasuke walked slowly away, half-expecting Sakura to stop him. Instead, she paid for her untouched bowl, and walked in the opposite direction.

_What were the other words?_ He wondered, _Naruto definitely didn't like what the two said, and he wouldn't tell me the rest. So what were the missing words that were seemingly so important? And what did they say when I couldn't see anything? And who is Orochimaru? I'm sure I've heard his name before…_

_-_

_How does Sakura know about the Kyuubi? How does she even know about this… attack that's supposed to happen? And what did she mean by Kabuto's from the future?_

Naruto sat, not touching his instant ramen either, nor the milk he set out, now mindful of 'best by' dates on the carton. _She practically told the future to Kakashi-sensei, along with a couple things I consider secrets… including mentioning Kyuubi._

_-_

Sakura arrived home just as dusk arrived, and walked into the house to be immediately greeted by her mom. The now familiar sense of a thousand different emotions immediately hit her, like every time she saw someone that she saw… dead. But it was fainter than the first time, and she was always ready for it.

"Honey!" Sakura's mom greeted her, "How did the first phase of the Chunnin Exams go? Not to hard, right?"

"No, mom, it was just a written exam."

"Oh, well then, you probably passed that."

"I think so, but I think it was only the last question that really counted, anyways, I need to rest up for tomorrow… I've already had dinner." Sakura said, walking past her mom and up to her room.

_Tomorrow. The second Exam. The Forest of Death._

_---_

Sakura was the first one there.

Armed with a ninja backpack with all the nessisary needs for about a weeklong trip, Team Seven was probably going to do better than last time, even if everything else was to go the same.

_I hope not._

But she hadn't counted on this being the real _first _time she'd interact with the others, that today would be the first time she might have to fight or fight alongside them since whatever caused her to go back in time.

Team Gai were the next ones to come, minus Lee, the first time Sakura interacted with them, and as they walked over, probably to learn about Kakashi-sensei's team in a whole, she couldn't hold back the small flood of memories… or _memory._

_-_

_Shino left, coming back with Neji and Lee. The Hyuuga immediately took one look at his cousin, Hinata, and said nothing, just picking her up and walking away._

_It started to rain._

_**Something to match the mood, **__was one of Sakura's only thoughts as the five, __Kiba, Shino, Lee, and Shikamaru, circled Konoha about ten or so Kilometers away from the boundary. They needed to make sure no other enemies were in the vicinity._

_By the time they returned, it was pouring, and even worse news was waiting for them._

_Tsunade was at the gates, and rain, __**or was it tears**__, were running down her face. Without preamble, she said bitterly as the ninja approached, "Neji's dead." _

"_**What?" **__Lee demanded, looking shocked, as if this was just a joke. The others said nothing; they were still processing the blunt comment._

"_I guess the loss of both of his daughters in one day was too much." She said, her voice the angriest Sakura had ever heard, "And I can't do anything, because the Caged Bird Seal is their clan's business!"_

_Sakura came to the conclusion only seconds after Shikamaru, the shock evident on his face. But first was the question by Kiba: "Hanabi and Neji are __**dead?" **_

_Tsunade looked up, "Yes, what do you think?" A cold bottle of Sake was in her hand, full, "Out of all the things that the Hyuuga Clan Head has done… this was by far the worst mistake Hiashi had ever made. He regrets it, true, but I can't do __**anything else **__to him for killing a leaf jounin because he's a Hyuuga."_

_**-**_

She shook her head as the team approached, trying to clear her thoughts from the memory. She raised one hand as the other genin neared, and Tenten was the first to answer, "Hey! You're in Kakashi's team, right?"

Sakura nodded, "Hai."

And Tenten continued, "Yeah, I heard Gai-sensei talking about how you guys weren't ready. It seems that at least one of Team Seven passed… where's the other two?"

"I don't really know, but they should be here… soon I hope." Sakura replied, still trying to shake off the memory. Tenten had died in the last sound invasion too, but Sakura hadn't seen her death, just heard about it.

That was when the Hyuuga noticed the pack on her back, "It seems that you think this might last a while." He commented, and Sakura nodded again.

"Hai, I looked through the maps of the training grounds. This one was pretty big, so I figured this would be a fairly long Exam." She responded, not exactly worried about this team. They helped her last time, so she was fairly sure they wouldn't attack her.

"We'll see." Neji said, as Team Eight and Ten arrived, along with the Sand Siblings almost at the same time.

Then the flood of teams started, every Ninja Village symbol could be found etched on the headbands of the various teams… but no Sasuke and Naruto.

_When are they going to get here?_

_-_

Finally she noticed the orange blur rushing towards them, Sasuke not far behind, only minutes before the start of the Second Exam. Anko had just stepped up to speak as the two slowed down enough to avoid crashing into other ninja.

"Glad you're here!" She said, "If not, I would've sent in your teammate alone."

Sasuke glanced at her as Naruto spoke up, "Nah, Sakura could handle it."

Anko glanced at Sakura for a minute, but her gaze soon slid over all of the ninja here, and she started to speak, "Okay, here. We just received some news yesterday of a Kage assassination. The Mizukage." She paused as a ripple of whispers erupted from the gathered teams, especially from the participants from Kirigakure. "An assassination of a Kage is unheard of during a Chunnin Exam, at least from the village that's hosting the exam." This got the attention of anyone who wasn't listening, not like the news of an assassination wouldn't get you're attention in the first place.

"What? No Konoha ninja would've done that… plus, wouldn't almost everyone be preoccupied by the exam? Were any ninja missing during that time? Unaccounted for?" Someone in the crowd of genin asked, and the mutterings went up.

"No Konoha ninja were missing, but Konoha money was found nearby, lying near the entrance to the Mizukage's workspace. That's what brings me to my point. You will only have to do the Second Exam, the third is on hold for a month, a year, we don't really know." Here she paused, "So we need to get on with the Second Exam, don't we?"

_Konoha money? That's—_

"You will have to sign these forms." Said Anko, holding up the white pieces of paper.

–_Impossible. Unless… Zabuza's __**dream. **__That means that… not only do I lose almost all of my advantage because this was never meant to happen, but I just helped in a Kage assassination. _

"—Die in here." The examiner finished, passing out the papers. Naruto handed one to her and one to Sasuke, before giving the rest to Team Ten, nearby.

"Now, once you sign these, you go to the tent over there and get either a Heaven…or an Earth Scroll." She held up each scroll respectively, "The object is to get both scrolls and get to the center of the Training area in five days." The genin were silent, most probably still thinking about the assassination, suspecting rival villages, especially Konoha.

"Have fun!" Anko ended, disappearing.

-

Sasuke didn't say a thing to Sakura, and neither did Naruto, well, not much, anyway. It was almost time, the clock ticking down to the exact hour when the gates were going to be opened and the teams let go. The Second Exam.

Only Sasuke didn't trust his teammates… no, _teammate_, anymore. And for someone that you were supposed to trust to help you out in a fight, Sakura wasn't very high on his list. She was powerful, but he didn't trust her.

_And what did Naruto hear? He's barely said anything, just a 'Hi, Sakura' and to ask what she had her pack for… it's not like him. So what could be so bad…?_

The opening of the gate in front of them interrupted his thoughts.

_The Second Exam has begun._

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ I have looked through the reviews my story has had so far, and the word __**'logical'**__ has come up more than once… is my story a good Sakura Time Travel one? Is the reason why I'm not getting a lot of reviews is that my story isn't clicked on a lot by people who think that all Sakura TT fics are the same?_

_Okay… sorry for the long wait, I've been… off the computer for unexpected reasons. I'm sorry I couldn't warn you sooner._

_Also, I don't think this chapter (at least with Hiashi) sounded right._

_MD_


	13. Second Exam I

* * *

**_The Chunnin Exams_**

* * *

"So…we have a Heaven Scroll…and we need an Earth Scroll." Sakura said, glancing at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. He was to be the one to carry the scroll, being the least likely to be targeted if there was an attack, but the hardest to _defeat_ in a drawn-out battle…hopefully. But she had faith in him, despite the fact that he looked like he hadn't had a wink of sleep last night, but the smile was there, and he had a couple of surprising jutsu he had learned from Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke recently. 

"Hai." Sasuke replied, not trying to hide the fact. He shuffled, scanning the clearing periodically, but not managing to hide that he was doing so. Naruto was on Sakura's right, forming a triangle between the three. He was also scanning the clearing, but not even trying to hide the fact.

"Okay, so how do we _get _the scroll?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke replied immediately.

"We target the enemy of course."

"Yeah, but—"

A scream came from nearby, and two more from the other two directions. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto immediately turned and headed in each direction respectively. _They went for the bait._

-

Naruto arrived at his trap barely a minute after entering the foliage. It had been a double trap, a more obvious one over the real trap. It might've deterred someone who took their enemies seriously, but for a couple of arrogant genin who most likely hadn't had any experience fighting enemy ninja it would be easy. _I might've—_Naruto paused and winced—_maybe could've—_again he stopped, and again he winced, probably confusing the ninja pinned to the tree in a very complex set of wires and kunai, and even a unlit explosion tag by the enemy's ear—_I…probably would've fallen for this. _Naruto admitted to himself, but would never have done so to anyone else.

"So…" Naruto finally said, "You have three choices: Give me the scroll; Get blown up; or I'll strip you down to your underwear and search you're clothes for it, then burn them. The jounin will have something to joke about for the next couple'a years." The genin, only year or so older than Naruto, shook his head vigorously at the last two options. He tried to say something, but a couple of the wires were positioned over his mouth, creating thin white lines across his face. Naruto deftly took out his kunai and in one motion, cut the wires from the ninja's face.

As they loosened and fell away from his face, the genin said nothing, clamping his mouth shut. Naruto just shrugged, "Okay, then, which of the last two options do you want?"

-

Sakura ended up facing a very uncomfortable-looking kunoichi, stuck in the same trap as her comrade, but upside down, though how, Sakura had no idea. The girl's foot was by the explosion tag, and her head was resting at an angle on the ground. The wires pinned her clothes to the tree, but her hair was splayed over the ground in a purple fan shape.

She was from… _Iwagakure, _Sakura noted from the headband. _So how do I get her t—_

"Let me go!" Her voice was a screeching wail right now, _from panic? Or anger?—_"Let me go!"

Sakura, hoping, but not counting on catching her off guard, asked, "Where's your scroll?"

She immediately shut up.

_Okay, so __**that **__didn't work. On to the __**real**__ plan…_

_-_

Sasuke delayed walking up to his… _prisoner, maybe?…_to activate his Sharingan and blank his face the best he could… _jounin level at best, but no genin should be able to track emotions __**that**__ good…_and then he went and found the trap. It was the same as Naruto's and Sakura's because Naruto had been the one to set it up. One small part of Sasuke admitted that Naruto was better at _that, _but the rest of him ignored it. It was the second day here, so they were getting somewhat desperate as they all were certain other teams had finished by now.

The person facing him, unable to move, was…his age. _But that can't be right, all other teams—at least the part that we saw from most of them didn't have young genin in them… and the only one that did…that wasn't from leaf…_

He was only a millasecond away from being impaled by the kunai that flashed by.

-

Naruto was waiting for the genin to do something.

The genin, in turn, was waiting for Naruto to do something.

Also called: Naruto was staring at the ninja and he was staring back…oh, joy…

_(A/N: -- I know, unnecessary, but I needed something to break this with, and Sakura didn't feel right there when I tried to type her.)_

-

Sasuke met the next kunai with a head on clash of metal against metal. _This was the genin we were supposed to catch. _The genin was only a year…_two, maybe… _ahead of him, but he must've been teamed with slightly older comrades… at least if this was the genin from the group earlier.

_But why with older teammates?_

_The first answer, of course, is that—_

Kunai clashed with kunai again, and the genin jumped back, starting to do handsigns, Sasuke rushed forward, taking the chance to stop him…

_--The team needed a replacement… a two-person team just needed a new genin on their team… the other—_

Sasuke pulled back as the jutsu was finished…

--_Is that he's a prodigy of sorts… and graduated early due to ninja demand—_

"**Doton—"** Was all Sasuke heard before a large pinnacle of rock shot out of the ground under him.

_Yeah, I think that was it… a prodigy… someone to test how strong I've gotten. _

He jumped, landing almost gracefully on the tree branch above. Forming the handsigns almost quicker than the stone-nin could register them, _**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, **_and he let out a plume of fire in the ninja's direction. Instead of dodging, the ninja sent up another tower of rock up into the tree, shattering it to pieces. Sasuke jumped again, his jutsu still in progress, and landed on the ground again.

The fireball engulfed the enemy in a plume of red and orange, but Sasuke immediately jumped into one of the nearby trees. Behind him, a poof of smoke signified a replacement jutsu.

-

Sakura removed the scroll from a pouch on the girl's side, _earth…it did work, _and was putting it in her own pouch when a figure almost crashed into her.

_Naruto?_

She barely had time to think the name before Naruto started speaking, "Sasuke-teme… someone attacked…him." Naruto panted, already regaining his breath. Naruto's trap had been set on a rocky outcrop beside a large tree…well, larger than the rest in the area, the perfect spot to see what was going on in the clearing… and, also, the other trap spots. But it was farther away from both Sasuke's and Sakura's to help as soon as a battle began.

Sakura said nothing, trusting Naruto's judgment. She took off into the trees, wary of an ambush if there was another team around, and Naruto followed.

"Okay, and the genin?" She asked, glancing at an upside-down Naruto as she leapt.

"Gone." Naruto replied, and Sakura just nodded.

"Well, you're luck my genin had the scroll, and the right one, too." Sakura suddenly jumped to the side, almost missing the projected tree branch, virtually dragging Naruto with her.

A burst of flame singed the trees where they had just been, and moments later kunai embedded themselves in a shadow…a log, now, after the replacement technique used.

"What was--?"

Sasuke came around one of the nearest trees, and stopped, panting, on their branch. "The…ninja won't…stop using replacement…" He gasped. His Sharingan was activated, tomoes swirling wildly. Sakura calculated quickly, and guessed they were about five minutes into the battle, _He's been at it that long…the enemy nin must be stronger than we gave them credit for…_

-

Sasuke was pretty sure the two were his teammates; he saw them approach, but just to make sure… he needed all the help he could get… there were two ninja now. He hadn't seen the other one, but was sure that the other nin was hiding nearby.

"Naruto…what did I tell you before we left? Sakura?" He asked, starting to regain his breath again.

"…before… the Second Exam? Trust your teammates." Sakura finally answered, and a wave of guilt passed over her face, _she __**does **__have something to hide…and something is keeping her from telling. _Sasuke briefly noted before Naruto responded.

"Err… do we have multiple choice?" Sasuke snorted at the statement, "Okay, okay, you gave me a really long sentence… about a ninja and a enemy…" Naruto finished lamely, and Sasuke nodded.

"Right."

-

"So, where is the ninja?" Asked Naruto, "If… you _were_ fighting a ninja…teme."

"Shut up—" Sasuke trailed off to find Naruto a couple paces behind him, still. "What?"

Naruto shook his head, turned, and then beckoned for his two teammates behind him. "I heard something."

-

They stopped a couple minutes or so later, where a very distinctive voice could be heard.

"—Uso! He was supposed to _help our team. _Idiot… I shouldn't've trusted some grass-nin anyway, especially some creepy lady like—" The voice suddenly went quiet, and Team Seven didn't move a muscle. So suddenly that Naruto almost jumped, another, _different, _voice spoke.

"So… you don't trust me, how touching. I told your team to target Team Seven, yet you do nothing but fall into a child's play of a trap."

-

_Orochimaru._

Sakura _chilled _at the name, the voice, even if it was masked; she never wanted to hear again… but she was here, wasn't she? She was here to change it so the voice—the person—would never do what he was planning too.

"…About time." Complained the arrogant genin, and all of Team Seven seemed to feel the temperature drop.

Seconds later, the genin dropped to the ground, coughing up blood and vomit. Sakura tensed, waiting for the inevitable kill, but she wasn't ready for a bullet of air, about as tall as some of the smaller tress, to burst through the undergrowth… and straight into Team Seven.

-

Naruto open his eyes slowly, blinking against the dim light that was drifting through the canopy. Suddenly he jumped up, faced with something_…big._

_Big snake, big snake… that's a big, big snake._

_-_

Sasuke rolled, jumping up as the attack sped past… with Naruto. Sakura was a couple feet off, getting up from losing her balance during the jump. Which was expected, she had been behind him in jumping away, she had been hit with a small part of the attack.

And in front of him…

… the ninja they had heard… the grass-nin that had launched that attack.

* * *

_Notes:_

Earth Release: (**Doton:**) _–couldn't think of any jutsu at the time-_

_**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (**_Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique_**)- **__couldn't really think of any other one to use…-_

_-_

**A/N:** _This chapter was just setting the stage for the next chapter… that will be ¼ Sakura and the rest fight-scene. _

_Me thinks that you've boosted my confidence too much. Take a look at the excerpt from my profile below:_

**Second Chance: **I know, it's a Sakura Time travel fic... the Horror! But hopefully, this should turn out different from the majority of them, not that the majority is bad to some of the population, but I don't like them. When I decided on writing a time travel fic, I went through all the possible people: Naruto--_overdone, and, admittedly, he's hard to write, especially with Kyuubi--,_ Sasuke--_also overdone, but a lot—as long as Sakura doesn't go with him-- of these are good. I'm not a good enough writer to try emo-boy as the main character--_, Gaara--_meh, he would have to be with one of the others to make it work properly-some good, but I was only wanted to do one character--,_ and Sakura. I decided on Sakura because she is the easiest--_I admit_-- but also because I can do _a lot _with her personality. Now, Sakura is Ooc--_depending on who looks at it_-- and she's--_in my opinion_-- better than her usual self. She might--_might_--be paired with Sasuke, as I like that pairing, but not... weird, like some other fanfics I've seen. Well, it should be, I've gotten into the double digits chapters without making her fall all over Sasuke or try to--_try to_--impress him.

_I have no clue what I was thinking when I wrote this…but it was five'clock in the morning…_

_Ja ne!_

_MD_


	14. Second Exam II

_Okay, so if I get anything wrong this chapter (Like jutsu or the hint side affects of a certain jutsu hint), please tell me. _

_**

* * *

**__**Second Exam II**_

* * *

Sakura stood… and immediately fell down again. The attack had caught her foot, and only her foot, throwing her off balance for the landing and potentially breaking a couple of bones. Luckily, the power had been spread out over the blast, so her foot wasn't _gone. _She cursed under her breath, running a hand over her foot and wincing. _About…a couple broken bones…_She surmised, channeling enough chakra into the foot for her to be able to stand up.

Standing, not ten feet away from her was Orochimaru.

-

Sasuke watched, out of the corner of his eye, Sakura standing up, failing, then standing up again. _Hopefully she can fight… or run if need be. This…person…is stronger than the others._

The grass-nin just stood there, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. "So I see you got both scrolls." She stated, "Good job… you might be as good as I hoped you would be."

Sasuke, confused but wary of the praise, merely drew a kunai and, gripping it tightly, brought it up in a defensive position. Sakura… she was just staring at the grass-nin… at least that's what it looked like. _What is she doing?_

_-_

Sakura didn't even know what she was doing. But… it seemed like she was having a killing intent and staring contest with Orochimaru. He was the one that started all of this. Without him, no Sound-nin, without him, no curse seal, without him, Kabuto might not have gotten that strong. In short, the only one she wanted to kill more than Kabuto was Orochimaru, then Itachi, because if she killed him, Sasuke might probably stop his… dream, maybe, though something like that…can't be a dream. Snapping out of her slightly detached thoughts, she cleared her mind… just in time for something worse.

Orochimaru…did whatever he did the last time.

-

Naruto stared at the snake in front of him. _T-that thing is bigger than a… house. Two houses! And it could…swallow…me…whole. _The snake, dappled green and brown, leaned forward, staring at Naruto through yellowish eyes. And then, before Naruto had time to draw even a kunai, it swallowed him in one gulp.

-

Sasuke, hit with something more than fear, collapsed on the ground, shaking, and almost puking. _Genjutsu? N-no… too much…I swear I saw the moment of my own death… twice? _

_-_

Sakura, on the other hand, was experiencing something completely different. She collapsed as well, but she was no longer in the present to register it.

_…Naruto's mangled body lay near the trees, his last… forced… smile still on his face. His eyes, what were left of them, had a glazed look to them, like smooth painted pottery. His jacket and shirt underneath were torn to shreds, exposing a clearly visible seal on his stomach. Tsunade immediately started to try to heal him… but it was too late…_

_…Sasuke they found on a scouting mission… any—**any**—mission out of the village had been changed to S-ranks. It had been Sharingan vs. Sharingan, Sasuke's and Itachi's last battle, and neither won…_

_…Kakashi-sensei, muttering words that should have been impossible to him after that blast, his clothes and skin all tinted a blood red from the multitude of hits he had taken…_

_…Hinata, like a sister to her, Sasuke's hand sticking out of her back, a shocked expression on his face as he failed to impale the one he had been aiming for, her face a determined mask…_

_…Neji, not a mark on him, but past the healing stage, eyes frozen open, face contorted with almost concealed pain…_

_…Kiba, in depression after Akamaru died in an escort mission that came to close to a sound patrol—ten miles—, falls from the cliff, the sound attack blasting him off the precarious edge…_

_…Tenten, body not even found, just a scroll, proof that the fight had brought one of her back-up attacks into play…_

_…Lee, valiantly fighting Kabuto, but not fast enough, even with extreme speed, not able to open the gates for help…_

_…Ino, friendly-ish rivalry still in place after…everything, grinning at her, "Forehead." no longer afraid of the death that claimed her only minutes later…_

_…Shino…the only thing supposedly left of him was a pile of ash after the sound invasion of Sand. He, and a team of jounin, had been sent to help, but by the time they found out the pure **extent **of the attack, it was nearly to late for the **village, **much less the ninja on the front lines…_

_…Shikamaru, trapped and checkmated by the sound army, holding as many of them as possible as he ordered—**ordered**—his friends to go, that this was the only way to make sure that the rest could get out safely, and to close in the tunnel behind them…_

_…Choji's funeral, everyone there, Ino actually crying for him…_

-

Sasuke recovered himself just in time to get Sakura and himself out of there, literally having to pick the shaking girl up and jump into the nearest tree. _This has to be a genjutsu, she won't snap out of it._ But as he released a small pulse of Chakra and she didn't wake up, he rethought that, what? _Not a genjutsu… then what? What did that ninja do to her?_

"Sakura! Wake up!" Well, it was better than nothing, wasn't it? But what he didn't expect was Sakura to jump at least two or three feet in the air almost instantaneously, and land, channeling as much killing intent as one could into Sasuke. But it only lasted for a moment, then she immediately withdrew the killing intent, but the mistrustful look remained for a couple moments more.

"Where are we?" She asked, as curtly as she could, but it still came out with the hoarseness as if she had been silently screaming the last few minutes. _What did shesee?_

Sakura was visibly shaking, but still steady with considerable effort. Her eyes held mistrustfulness…and… hate? Whatever she had experienced had shocked or scared her beyond reason. _Will she be able to fight **now? **Because whatever the grass-nin did to her, she can probably do to me…_

-

Naruto was immensely disgruntled.

Well, who wouldn't be, if a snake had swallowed them? Apparently the snake had oxygen in his stomach, and apparently Naruto was still alive.

And… he was…extremely annoyed.

_Fire or Clone? Fire or Clone? Fire or Clone?_

He repeated to himself, finally deciding that exploding by clones would be the snake's fate.

-

Sakura braced herself for the inevitable—

'**Shish—kht'**

She jumped, just as the snake exploded through the tree. _He's more desperate this time… probably because I'm here, and he's unsure of weather we're stronger or not._ She hadn't meant to react that way to Sasuke, but at that time she was reliving a scene with him that still shook her. But she just, like she was good at doing after years of experience, pushed it to the back of her head.

But she _had_ been shaking, she _had_ been scared. And now, Sasuke was somewhat shaken, too, and just as much on guard as her.

_I hadn't meant to do that._

-

Sasuke leapt only seconds after Sakura. But despite the fact that he leapt in almost the opposite direction, the snake diverted its course, heading after him. He activated his Sharingan, and…

**_GET IT AWAY!_**

The almost incoherent thought roared through his head, and he couldn't even think of a jutsu. Reacting purely on instinct, he threw a dozen shuriken at the reptilian beast, not even registering he did throw them.

"Sasuke!" He heard Sakura's voice just as the shuriken impaled the beast in its mouth, and it fell, seemingly dead. Sakura suddenly rushed by, and since Sasuke was still in midair, about to land, he couldn't follow.

But he watched as she dove towards one spot a little from the head of the snake, glowing fist upraised. Bringing it down, she smashed a bloody hole in the dead snake. What is she doing?

Suddenly, he understood. Rising from the…snake was the grass-nin.

-

Sakura stood, blood covering both arms. I didn't get him.

But Orochimaru was rising from the snake far enough to her right for her not to be a threat. Coincidence? She thought, but then immediately discarded the thought. Nothing like that is coincidental. Kabuto told him more than I guessed.

-

Where are they, where are they? Naruto shouted inside his head, cursing himself for not jumping out of the way soon enough. Not only are Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme in trouble, now I have snake acid all over me.

Something close to an explosion came from his left. Bingo!

-

**Sakura Leafstorm. **She had dubbed the…thing… the first time she had used it. It used fresh, natural leaves, a common occurrence in the Forest of Death, or all of Konoha and most of the Land of Fire, and also used chakra to reinforce and sharpen the leaves. The enemy didn't know what was happening until the leaves reached them. It was used mostly as a distraction, because of the immense concentration it took to greatly injure someone with them, but you could, in some cases, attach a couple explosion tags to the leaf, and if you pour the right amount of chakra into it, the tags would explode when you wanted them to.

That's exactly what Sakura did.

The explosions followed Orochimaru one by one, gaining on him due to the fact that Sasuke was continually doing fire and shuriken-based attacks from the other side. He couldn't keep it up for long, though. But what Sakura hadn't expected was Sasuke's fire jutsu to collide with her group of explosion tags… right on top of Orochimaru.

-

Naruto arrived in time to see the fire fading, the explosions fading away…and someone was behind him. He whirled, and came face-to-face with some grass-nin. Is this a girl…or a guy? Was his first thought. He couldn't help it, ever since spending the week with Haku a while back; he had been corrupted in a way.

The ninja's fingers lit up, and Naruto had barely any time to think before he was thrown backwards into… he guessed one of his teammates. A pain erupted from his stomach, and he almost lost his grip on the branch that he was holding onto. But the pain persisted, and he instinctively tried to curl into a ball and hang onto the branch at the same time. He couldn't even climb up.

-

Sasuke, as soon as he noticed that Naruto was there and possibly in danger, leapt to the branch the dobe had knocked Sakura off of. Sakura was probably okay, but Naruto's face was contorting with pain, and he was barely able to hold onto the branch. "Dobe." He muttered, reaching down and grabbing Naruto's wrists, pulling him up onto the branch.

Immediately Naruto staggered up, still in pain, but not as much, or he was just hiding it. Sakura appeared beside them, placing an arm around Naruto, steadying him.

That was when the grass-nin appeared again.

Along with a giant snake.

---

A plume of fire destroyed all of Naruto's clones…

…but was also heading straight for Orochimaru.

He had greatly underestimated the genins' teamwork, as well as their individual skills. He might have to send the sound four to _capture_ Sasuke, after all, if the invasion didn't work. And the blonde idiot hadn't looked like he could've done much, but he had already showed off a surprising jutsu… the **Kage Bunshin** Technique. And the seal hadn't affected the kid as much as he had hoped.

And the way the two, Uzumaki and Uchiha, seemed to know each other's moves was indeed something that he almost didn't want to break up.

Of course, nothing was greater than his own dreams and ambitions.

He jumped out of the way of the fire, landing deftly on the waiting snake.

-

"Guys, we have to get rid of the snake first." Sakura said, barely even able to finish the sentence before the large snake crashed into the spot where Team Seven had been moments before.

_We're going to attract the attention of…__**someone **__sooner or later…_

_-_

Gaara looked up.

Something wasn't right. The air seemed full of Chakra and killing intent, the small tensions in the air you could feel telling of emotion were taught, reminding him of every time he would run into someone of his village, and, to an extent, this village as well.

It was obvious Kankuro and Temari felt it too.

Without a word to his siblings, he set off towards the commotion.

What did they have to lose, anyway? They had already passed, and no one else could beat the sand siblings out here, not genin.

But he had a feeling that this was more than genin level.

-

Sasuke let out another Fire Jutsu, trying to distract the grass-nin… Orochimaru… Sakura had said. That one word just increased the mystery surrounding Sakura. Orochimaru; The name from the Ramen stand three days ago.

"It's…a…disguise!" Sakura yelled at odd intervals, "Orochi…maru…is…masquerading…as…a…grass-nin." She only yelled when Sasuke and Naruto could both hear her, and it took about a minute or two to get the point across. Sasuke didn't question the information, just stored it in the back of his mind for later when he would ask Sakura _how _she knew all of this.

But it seemed that this ninja…Orochimaru…was just...playing with them. But the enemy was getting low on Chakra, and Sasuke could sense it. But it wasn't nearly low enough to win.

Springing forward, he ran up the entire length of the snake, throwing a punch at the ninja's head.

Orochimaru dodged. He dodged smoothly, bringing up his hand to hit Sasuke in the jaw with enough force to knock him off the snake. Sasuke blocked the punch, jarring his arm, and spun around, almost landing a kick on the grass-nin. But it was caught and Sasuke was spun around, thrown off the snake. Sasuke righted himself, landing ungracefully on the tree branch below, just in time to be almost smashed into the ground by the snake itself.

-

Naruto had launched an attach directly after Sasuke, only this one with a hundred or so **Kage Bunshins **punching and kicking at the same time. The ninja…Orochimaru, he guessed…was just as good, if not better, than Kakashi-sensei. But…he seemed better than that. It seemed like their opponent was holding back, but why? Why not just finish them then?

_That…thing he hit my stomach with still hurts as if I was being stabbed by kunai…_ He noted, rubbing his midsection as he recovered from the steady loss of clones. There were still about forty left, but that wouldn't last long. He needed to think of something, and fast to help his friends.

-

Gaara stayed in the undergrowth, observing the scene in front of him with mild interest. Temari, on his left, and Kankuro, on his right, were completely engrossed in the battle, staring at the Team…Seven? And their opponent with wide eyes.

"That's not a genin, I can tell that much." Temari muttered, "That grass-nin…there is no way."

Kankuro just nodded in agreement.

_Maybe_

-

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were getting desperate. Sure, their opponent was getting worn out, but so were they, and to a much larger degree. Naruto had started to conserve on **Kage Bunshins**, and was now relying on his…now erratic fire jutsus. Sasuke guessed that whatever was messing up his jutsu related to the purple glowing from up above before Naruto fell.

_And we need at least him at full proficiency. Neither Sakura nor I are able to fight as well as usual. Sakura due to whatever happened to her and me because of my previous battle. We're not doing well right now._

It was turning into a standoff. After an almost excruciating battle, there was now a lull in the action, and it seemed that Sakura knew what was going to happen next by the glances she was continuing to give Sasuke. _Nervous, and slightly fearful glances,_ he noted with slight discomfort. Whatever she knew was going to happen was bound to be worse than what had already happened.

-

Sakura was unsure of what to do next, most likely because she was in a completely different situation from last time, and she didn't know what Orochimaru was going to do. She knew his main goal, but now the timeline had diverged so much she didn't know what was coming next.

She could barely react when Orochimaru shot forward.

------------------------------

_Author's Note: So yeah, I don't think this is a good chapter. This was a really long chapter. The Chunnin Exams will last another one chapter. I've ended three sentences so far with the word 'chapter'._

_Yeah, I hope everything was believable. Plus, I typed this on a laptop (Never again will I type on one of these.) And mistakes might be common-er than usual._

_Ja ne!_

_MD_


	15. Summons & Curse Marks

_Okay people! I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I was in a writing rut, even my school assignments turned out worse-than-usual. But I'm back, and the day after Turkey Day no less! And, last night, Thanksgiving, I got out of my writing rut and typed this 4,200 word chapter well into the night. It might be a little rough, but I think it did just as good as the last chapter (which wasn't very good). I would've updated with two new chapters but I couldn't figure out a place to divide the chapter into two… sorry. XD. Anyways, enjoy, and I'm really sorry!_

_**-**_

_**Chapter Fifteen: Summons and Curse Marks**_

**_-_**

Sasuke mentally beat himself up as the grass-nin got closer as if in slow motion. He tried to back up again, only to find hard bark behind him, and unable to doge, he slid into a defense position quickly. He wasn't an Uchiha for nothing, he could—and would—defend himself.

_**-**_

Temari readied her fan, all three moons showing on the white fabric. Whatever that… thing… was going to do, it had something to do with the genin themselves, not with the scrolls. It was apparent that the grass-nin had some sort of use or gain for attacking Team Seven in particular, but she didn't know if the ninja was going to attack _them _after finishing with the Konoha team.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kankuro and Gaara doing the same thing, readying their offensive and defensive jutsu.

If that ninja attacked them, it might be a hard battle after all.

_**-**_

Naruto dove forward towards the… head of Orochimaru, but Sakura-chan was doing the same thing… and with a jutsu in progress. He pulled back, unwilling to be in the line of fire of whatever jutsu Sakura was going to unleash, and instead of stopping entirely, tumbled off of the branch.

_Was that a giant __**slug?**_

_**-**_

_It __**worked! **_

_Well, it obviously worked, but with what results…?_ She reminded herself as she landed on the head of the slug. It was about half the size of the slug that Tsunade always summoned, and the fact that Sakura could still summon it meant that the blood signature was still in effect, even in a different timeline. But this wasn't the time. All she needed the slug for at the moment was distraction and for blocking Orochimaru from his… prize.

She noted that Orochimaru's head had drawn back, and he shot a dubious look at the dull white slug balancing on three or four thick branches.

Now to get the slug, whoever it was, to listen to her.

_**-**_

Orochimaru had almost face-planted the slug, barely drawing back in time to avoid any counterattack, but none came. That was Tsunade's style, not this…girl's.

But it still surprised him that this genin, from the future or no, could complete a jutsu that he had only seen Tsunade do. _Is it possible she trained under her? _If so, Kabuto was in trouble, and even farther down on his trust list.

He still needed to get Sasuke, and he was wasting precious time thinking about what this girl has or hasn't done. He deftly began the necessary handsigns.

_So she wants to fight with summons?_

_**-**_

Sakura stumbled, even with her feet planted firmly on the slug.

The summoning had taken more out of her than she had expected, and she still needed to command the slug, and fight Orochimaru. Sasuke, she observed, was looking up at her with an expression almost akin to awe, and Naruto… _where is Naruto?_

She couldn't see the orange ninja anywhere, and that was saying something. He might have been squished by the slug, but he would most likely have enough sense to get out of the way before the slug fully appeared.

She turned her attention back to Orochimaru—_why did I take my attention off him anyway?—_just in time to see the poof of smoke and a huge, scaly shape emerge from the mist.

_Oh no_

**_-_**

Naruto was a few branches down, still rubbing the hurting spot on his stomach. A vast white shape was above him, higher in the branches, Sakura-chan's work, and he was just contemplating how to get back up when another noise caught his attention.

Draped in the canopy, tail flicking like an annoying cat's, was the biggest, purplest snake he had ever seen. And standing on top…

…Orochimaru.

_**-**_

Sasuke had his Sharingan active at the moment of the summons, and marveled at how much chakra both Sakura and the grass-nin had put out in their respective jutsu. Orochimaru had put out more, but Sakura had used more than he knew she possessed.

But he had more important things to do… he was wedged between the off-white slug and the tree, and to avoid being crushed, he had to get out of the precarious position.

"Hey, Hey! Teme! Sasuke! Down here!" Came a voice from underneath, and Sasuke looked down through a branch in the boughs around him. Naruto was directly underneath, staring at him through the leaves and light brown bark. "Down here if you don't want to be squished!...Well, we can be squished _here_, but…"

Sasuke cut him off with a nod, jumping down through the small gap in the branches and landing deftly on the branch below.

"Okay, cumon!" Naruto said, taking off through the tree.

**_-_**

The tree wasn't going to hold the slug forever, and the branches were going to hinder the mobility of the summon. Sakura had already established in the short time between that the slug remembered her, but she was none the wiser of the slug's identity. She didn't even know how the slug knew who she was, but she suspected it had something to do with the blood signature working correctly.

_Finally a bit of luck._

But the luck wasn't meant to last.

_**-**_

Orochimaru had summoned one of his greatest snakes. If the girl wanted to be a nuisance, so be it. He would just have to get rid of her to get to Sasuke.

The snake lunged towards the slug, and Sakura, fangs outstretched towards the dull white blob of a slug.

_**-**_

Sakura slid down the side of ­­­­­­­the slug, reaching the braches in no time, and landing a sharp punch on the tree below. The straining branches snapped, letting the slug fall out of the way of the oncoming attack. The dull white summon and Sakura tumbled down, the former breaking branches on the way down.

**_-_**

Naruto and Sasuke barely had time to get out of the way in time to avoid being thrown downward by the force of the falling slug. Still, as the branches crumbled under them, they didn't have time to right themselves for a solid landing.

**_-_**

Kankuro was tense to the point of almost jumping at the smallest movement. Just minutes ago he had been sure the genin were going to lose, but the pink-haired kunoichi, Haruno Sakura, had summoned a slug. It wasn't the size of the slug that had caught Kankuro's attention. It was the amount of chakra it must have taken to summon it that astounded him.

But it wasn't over. The grass-nin had summoned a snake that must have been twice as large, and in a dodge, both the slug and the girl were headed straight for the ground. The slug was going to land without a problem, but now the… three? The two others in team seven, Uzumaki and Uchiha, were tumbling through the air as well, and the snake was recoiling for another strike.

Just then a blast of wind came from beside him, centered, but spreading out, on the Haruno. It would most likely catch the other two as well, and hurtle them back towards the canopy.

_Temari?_

_**-**_

Sakura barely noticed the difference between going down and going up, but she was aware that she wasn't tumbling as much, and that the tree was coming closer. Purely reacting on instinct, she channeled chakra into her hands and feet before coming in contact with the tree. Not only did the chakra attach her to the tree, it acted as a natural shock-absorbent when she hit the tree. So instead of the bone-jarring contact she would have had, it was a mild _thump _before she had to use the chakra to hold on to the bark.

Sakura looked down in time to see the slug land with a thump and disappear—_I didn't have enough chakra. I was right.—_and to see Temari standing out in the open, her fan at the ready, staring back up at the trees.

**_-_**

Sasuke tumbled down… then up, immediately noticing the change in direction. He tried to right himself, spreading out his body to stop tumbling, and dimly wondering who had sent a blast powerful enough to change his direction. What he didn't think about was what he might land on. And in this case, it was the very scaly tail of the giant snake above.

He latched on with chakra, willing to use even his enemy's summon to stop his fall, but he was flicked upward, and deftly caught by the head of the great beast. Finally getting up, and onto not-so-solid ground, Sasuke started to notice where he _really _was, and not just dimly noting it.

He was on the head of a huge snake, and facing him was the grass-nin himself.

**_-_**

Naruto tumbled upward in about the same direction, but landed on one of the trees the snake had so unceremoniously draped himself over. As soon as he noted that Sasuke-teme had gotten flicked up by the tail of the snake, he started his trek upward. The grass-nin wanted Sasuke for_ something, _and Naruto wasn't going to let some enemy ninja respect the _Uchiha, _and not Uzumaki Naruto! Plus, if the ninja did something to the teme, Sakura-chan would probably kill him for not trying to help Sasuke out.

**_-_**

Orochimaru now had the prize in his grasp, and he wasn't going to let Sasuke get away this time. But he was going to give Sasuke the message _first, _instead of what he had planned. Also, it seemed he would have to make his little message a little longer than in his plans as well.

"You're too strong for this village, dear Sasuke." He started, layering every word with as much honey-sweetness and charm of the snake as possible, "It's a village of secrets, where no one will try to make you stronger, help you reach your goal. Which, as I know, includes Itachi?" He almost grinned when Sasuke flinched a bit, "Well, no matter, I can offer you the power you seek." He paused, and as Sasuke showed the slightest hint of hesitation, he lunged forward, biting Sasuke firmly on the… arm? Sasuke had put up his arm in meager defense, but it didn't matter.

That is, it didn't matter until a certain force hurtled into him, ripping his fangs from deep into the tissue and dragging them along Sasuke's skin for a couple of inches before Orochimaru lost contact with the body, unsure if he had finished the process, however quick it might be if the subject was standing still.

He heard a scream of pain as the force let go, and he turned to find the annoying orange ninja facing him. His eyes were red slits—_I put a seal on him… it must be some kind of leak—_and the whisker marks on the kid's face were more pronounced. The Uzumaki then raised a slightly clawed hand and pointed at him. "So you… think it's… alright to just … march in here… and mess with _my _team? Well… I'll teach you!"

**_-_**

Naruto really couldn't explain what his emotions were at the moment, just that every one was enhanced tenfold, especially hatred and revenge, the only emotions he could roughly name. It was true, he wanted to kill the guy for hurting both Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme, but to the extent he did was frightening even him.

He lunged forward toward the grass-nin, vaguely reminded of his first mission out of the village. He was almost growling as he hit the grass-nin, throwing him off the now-agitated snake and towards the ground below.

**_-_**

Orochimaru twisted in midair, landing on a small branch jutting out from a large tree nearby. He rubbed his jaw contemplatively (1) as he calculated whether or not the jutsu would work or not on the young Uchiha, and feeling the damage to his 'face' as well. That one punch had left his skin hanging off in places, his disguise partly ruined… or ruined to anyone who knew anything about forbidden jutsu… anyone who knew who he was.

The Haruno girl, the cause of all his troubles, was currently running up a nearby tree, hoping to get to Sasuke, he presumed, even though he had already been placed with the curse mark. So did that mean he was done here?

**_-_**

Temari had seen the fall of the grass-nin, and refrained from using a jutsu on him on his way down, he still had his snake, and she didn't want to draw more attention to herself than necessary. She didn't really know why she had stepped forward and saved the genin anyway, but she now knew that they had the upper hand, and that if she helped them the grass-nin might be defeated… and no longer be a threat.

But she almost jumped back when the snake, faster than she would have thought, slid down the tree and _talked _to the grass-nin.

"Let's hope you have payment for this!" The snake demanded of the grass-nin, and the grass-nin responded in a clam voice before the snake poofed out of existence. She didn't see the other two—Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke—anywhere above them, but Sakura was still running upward, as if afraid of what she might find when she reached the top. Temari saw her glance back a couple times, maybe looking to see if her friends were really below her, not above?

"That… none of that was genin level." She heard Kankuro mutter behind her.

**_-_**

Naruto had managed to grab Sasuke and jump off of the snake in time to avoid being hurled downward with the snake. He landed on a nearby branch and set Sasuke down, who by now was hovering on the edge of consciousness, the cut and bite marks on his arm turning black. He was going to fall fully unconscious soon, Naruto noticed, and then jumped off of the branch.

Well, whatever condition Sasuke-teme was in, he didn't want that happening to him or Sakura-chan.

**_-_**

Sakura was hoping… no… _praying _that Sasuke hadn't been bitten, and was just about to change trees—_they were thrown a long way up_—when Orochimaru appeared in front of her, also standing sideways on the tree. The trunk was getting thinner now, about the size of the branches below, and she didn't have the room, or chakra and skill, to maneuver around the Sannin.

"Hmmm…" He said, the 'face' on his face partly hanging off, "You were more of a threat than I had factored in." He paused, and Sakura resisted the urge to lunge at him. She could be suicidal some other time, she was running on bare minimum in chakra. "Well, either way, I accomplished my goal, and he will, like _last time, _come to the sound for power." With that, Orochimaru disappeared into the tree, melting into it as if it were water.

**_-_**

Anko had in the Forest of Death for an hour or so now, and she felt like she was drawing closer to Orochimaru. Just as well. She had an idea of what he was after, and she hoped to get there, wherever it was, before the Sannin could do what he was planning.

She was probably too late, though.

**_-_**

Naruto arrived just in time to see Orochimaru disappear into the… _tree? _And in time to see Sakura just continue running upward as if it had been nothing. _I can wonder about that later._

_**-**_

"Hey Sakura!" A voice yelled from the tree bedside her, and she glanced over to find Naruto… and no Sasuke. Sakura had no reason to mistrust Orochimaru when it came to that, but she still had hoped that he had missed or something. "Sasuke's over here!" Naruto yelled and took off in another direction.

**_-_**

Gaara didn't say anything to his whispering siblings, but, in truth, the genin had impressed him for the second time in the last couple of weeks. The first time had been when all three had stood up to him when Kankuro had chosen to pick on a little kid, and this was the second time. He had experience with high-level jutsu, most directed at him, and the level of every jutsu used was higher than he had ever anticipated from the three genin, and he had spent a couple nights thinking about it.

"Time to go." He finally said, "We don't need to be around any longer." He continued, despite the fact that he _did _want to see what had happened to the Uchiha, that grass-nin could be anywhere, and they had nothing to gain here.

**_---_**

Sasuke slowly regained consciousness, the first sign being a sharp pain in his left arm that wouldn't go away. The second thing he noticed was that there was the sound of kunai and fighting somewhere near, and Naruto's voice calling out insults and random low-level fire jutsu.

_A fight? _He thought groggily as he tried to shake the fuzz from his mind. He opened his eyes, pulling himself to his feet, despite the fact that every movement sent a wave of fire up to his arm. His arm. That was where the snake bit him—no—where the _grass-nin_ bit him. He looked down, rubbing the tender spot, to find that the entire area had been wrapped in several layers of white bandages and a strip of red… _blood _ran up his arm from about the middle to the forearm, where the bandages disappeared into his shirt.

By now, he was fully conscious, and he could clearly hear the sounds of a battle outside of the… _cave? _It at least looked like one, or maybe a tree at night. He didn't know nor care, and he just made sure that he had all of his ninja gear—yes—before approaching the mouth of the cave.

When he looked out, coveting the element of surprise, he found that Naruto, Sakura, and some green-clad genin were fighting three other ninja from the… _sound, _he thought, trying to remember what Kabuto had told them about the participating countries.

But that was when the girl of the sound group decided to improvise. She sent a senbon, previously just used to hold a bell on the tree, right towards Sakura. Sakura blocked, probably thinking the senbon would go past her to the tree behind.

But it didn't.

**_-_**

Sakura hadn't noticed, perhaps she was partly asleep on her feet, that the senbon was headed for _her, _not the tree. But when she did realize, it was too late to dodge. The senbon buried itself in the side of her jaw, just between the bone and skull. _Not fatal, _she noted dimly just before the pain exploded, _but hurts. _

She knew that spot well, it was one of the favorites of the senbon-trained ANBU population, and the Torture and Interrogation units as well. She had been part of both, if only for a week or so.

She collapsed to her knees, not managing to bite back the cry of pain that followed the explosion of pain.

**_-_**

Naruto and Lee both had the same thought fly through their heads when Sakura went down.

_Sakura-chan!_

But there was nothing they could do, they were preoccupied with their own enemies.

**_-_**

Sasuke saw Sakura go down, and some kind of… _rage… _shot through him at the sight of his teammate, much more than what he was used to. But with the rage came an incomprehensible desire to hurt, and a sense of power he had never had.

He walked forward, dimly noting the purplish chakra swirling around him, and the fact that the sound-nin were staring at him, as well as his allies. Both with a slight sense of awe.

**_-_**

Rin backed up, nearing her teammates, Dosu and Zaku. "Didn't Kabuto say to get _out of here _if this happens." She whispered frantically to her teammates, and Dosu nodded.

But Zaku didn't seem to remember that, or thought that he could take the genin that had so much chakra it was visible. Instead, he laughed. "I can take this guy with my _eyes closed!_" He said, pointing both hands outstretched at the figure of the Uchiha, as if to try to block or grab him.

He released a pulse of condensed sound, focused to a point, at the genin before Rin could stop him. She didn't want him ruining Orochimaru's puppet… prize, as Kabuto worded it.

But it didn't matter. The Uchiha just _batted _the sound away, reflecting it into a nearby tree, that cracked and fell under the pressure of the sound. Rin backed up.

"Bye, I'm not staying here to get killed."

**_-_**

As soon as Sasuke had put the chakra into use, a pain exploded from the cut on his arm, the source of the chakra, he now knew. But he continued, ignoring the pain that was getting more and more pronounced the more he used the chakra to his liking.

He reveled in the fear on all three of the sound-nin's faces, and the fact that the kunoichi was running away. _I can catch up with her later for that… _

Right now, he was interested in the sound-nin that had launched the attack on him, the one that had been blasting both of his teammates with waves of sound.

The sound-nin seemed frozen to the spot, his eyes getting wider and wider as he got closer. He loved it. Sasuke deftly grabbed the ninja's arm, twisting it behind his back, and grabbing the other for good measure. He placed his foot on the ninja's back, pushing forward as he pulled back on the arms. The screams of pain were—

--pain erupted from his arm again, and he snapped out of it in time to see exactly _what _he was doing. It disgusted him. The purple chakra faded, and he said in a deadly tone, using the anger still evident in his voice. He directed the comment towards the sound-nin still conscious or here, the one with the bandages wrapped around his face, only showing one eye.

"Take you're teammate and _leave." _Sasuke stated, releasing the sound-nin's arms. "If you come back I'll _kill you._"

The oto-nin nodded, picking up his teammate and disappearing into the trees on the other side of the stream.

Sasuke turned, and noticed that both Naruto and the green-nin were both beside Sakura, trying to remove the senbon needle wedged in her jawbone, thrown with enough force to separate the bone.

_**-**_

Naruto had been frozen in place when Sasuke had come out, and he was pretty sure Lee was too. But Sakura soon drew his attention off of Sasuke and onto her. He had scrambled over, and was now trying to remove the senbon. Sakura was trembling, and he was sure that was the cause of the needle. He barely noticed Lee come over to help him try to delicately remove the object.

They finally got it out without damaging Sakura's jawbone further, just to find that Sasuke was behind them, a slight smirk on his features.

Naruto turned, noting that Sakura was starting to regain control, and he opened his mouth to ask the question, _how did you get that much chakra, _when another voice interrupted them.

**_-_**

Neji and Tenten had been watching the fight from the trees after Neji had deemed their involvement unnecessary. The fight had lasted about thirty minuets if the Hyuuga's calculations were correct, and Tenten and he had come in about ten minutes in. It seemed that both the Haruno and Uzumaki were pressed for chakra, so they must have been in another fight recently. What Neji didn't understand was how the Uchiha got knocked out and not the Uzumaki or the kunoichi. But the question that far outshone that one was what happed next. When the Uchiha had woken up, he had noticed it. When the Uchiha's chakra flared, he had to deactivate his Byakugan. Not like it made much of a difference. The chakra was visible either way. _How did he get that much chakra, and why is it not the general color?_

Neji knew that in rare…_rare… _cases a person's chakra could be a different shade of blue or such, but that was from birth, and it never changed from another color back to blue afterward. It's like the Uchiha had two different chakra sources.

But he decided that this was a good time to speak up, they needed to continue to the finishing spot if they wanted to make it before the desperate teams gathered. It was already the fourth day.

"Lee." He said simply, "We need to go if we're going to finish."

**_-_**

Lee just turned at the sound of his teammate's voice, but Naruto, Sasuke, and to an extent, Sakura all jumped and turned, kunai in hand. Their reactions puzzled Lee a bit, the threat was gone, and he was certain that Team…Seven? Had met them before, even if just in passing, but a ninja should be able to remember a voice.

Lee just got up, realizing his teammate and rival's logic, and started for the tree, calling over his shoulder, "Bye! Naruto, take care of Sakura-chan!"

**_-_**

Naruto visible relaxed, and watched as Lee left, jumping into the tree and disappearing with the rest of his team. Sakura was recovering, and she had stood up, scanning the clearing. Sasuke was just standing there, kunai in hand, but still slightly relaxed, but he was staring at Sakura as if she was hiding something.

Naruto believed she was, she knew about the Kyuubi, and she knew things as if she could see the future. He had meant to ask her sooner, but the entire exams had gotten in the way. Well, it seemed that Sasuke thought that it was time that she told them _something,_ and Naruto agreed.

Sakura almost jumped again when Sasuke said, "Sakura, I think it's time you told your teammates what's going on."

**_-_**

_Once again, sorry for the long update, I'm sooo sorry, but I couldn't think of anything. I don't think this chapter was that good, again, I think that Lee was out of character… but I don't know the male post-fixes in Japanese, and I think I'll mess it up._

_So yeah…_

_Ja ne!_

_MD_


	16. Complex Confrontations

_

* * *

__**Chapter 16: Complex Confrontations **__**

* * *

**_"Well?" Sasuke pressed on when Sakura didn't reply, "What is so important that you had to hide it from your teammates?" He knew he had more pressing issues, such as the pain in his arm and the power he had just experienced, but he felt that he might just get all his answers from Sakura. 

She turned away from them, and he could almost feel the uncertainty coming from her in waves. Finally, she sighed.

"You wouldn't believe me anyway." She said loftily, still not facing the two boys in the group. The Uchiha suspected this was just her way of trying to get out of telling them, a weak excuse though. He and Naruto traded a look, and Naruto spoke up almost immediately after.

"Sakura-chan, you told Kakashi-sensei, so why can't you tell us? I already know some, I listened in to the conversation you had with him at the ramen shop."

-

_Of course! _Sakura restrained from slapping her forehead, _When I came back, what else would've made __**both **__of them act like that? And the amazing thing is I didn't see that!_

It would've been obvious if she were looking for it, but she just blamed it on whatever was on the cards Kabuto had, not on something else. _I'm such an idiot! _She would've confronted that later, but only after the first two stages of the Chunnin Exam, afterward, she had reasoned, the timeline would be too different to keep secrecy, she could tell as many people as she liked, and alter the timeline in any way she chose.

It didn't work out that way.

Sasuke had been marked with the curse mark, and everything was going downhill as much as before. This wasn't what she had planned.

She was initially going to lie low, attract about as much attention as she did before, and secretly help her team train to be stronger. She was going to then make sure they were much more prepared for the Forest of Death than last time. And finally, she was going to use her knowledge to try to either avoid Orochimaru or to help in the battle.

No, it definitely didn't work like she had hoped it would. The element of surprise was lost when Kabuto appeared, and the battle was lost when the curse mark was placed on Sasuke, however sloppily.

Well, all she could do was tell the truth.

On the bright side, she couldn't wait to see their faces when she told them.

-

Sasuke folded his arms, waiting for an answer, as Sakura seemed to contemplate on _what _to tell them, or at least that's what he gathered. He had first noticed something… wrong when his number-one-fangirl had stopped being his… well, fangirl. He really hadn't believed the excuse he gave himself at the time, that Sakura was taking ninja training more seriously, but it seemed that was the case… that is, until the Chunnin Exams. Then that genin, Kabuto, had given him his card. He didn't know why, it could've all just been lies, but that couldn't have been right. Unless that was his idea of a joke.

His doubt and suspicion had increased even more when Sakura insisted on taking them both to ramen and then leaving to talk with Kakashi-sensei… and about such things as 'sound invasions.' He hadn't really started to connect what dots there were until the battle with Orochimaru. She seemed to know every important move the grass-nin was going to make.

The only possible conclusion was that she was either a spy for them, or was a spy for this Orochimaru person. But neither seemed likely, and neither made much sense, but those was the only reasons he could come up with.

-

_How to word this, how to word this…?__** (A/N: My thoughts exactly XD)**_

"Well." Sakura started, glancing around the clearing. It was way to exposed to be sharing secrets. "First, we have to get somewhere… less…" Sasuke was glaring at her. Not just a death glare, but a death glare coupled with as much killing intent as a genin could muster backed into it.

"You can tell us here, it's perfectly safe…everyone has moved on and I bet _you'd _know if someone was here."

There was something hidden in the way Sasuke had worded his sentence, but she didn't know exactly what it meant. If he had figured it out, why not just tell her and get it over with. But he clearly wasn't going to say any more, so he was waiting to see if he was right.

Probably not.

Sakura sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you." She was pretty unsure if they would believe her, and even more unsure of what they would do if they did. She scanned the clearing again, hoping that Team Ten wouldn't appear in the middle of her… story.

"Uchiha Sasuke." She started, closing her eyes, and felt Sasuke's eyes boring into her, "His brother, Itachi killed his entire clan, leaving him." Not that classified, someone could figure it out easily, "He then vowed to kill his brother at all costs, and restore his clan. Ultimately his only goals." A little more in-depth, she could feel some of the confusion radiating from both boys.

"Then Orochimaru, a Sannin, decided that this Uchiha Sasuke would make a perfect _vessel _for him… he had the Sharingan after all. Sasuke fell for his trap, leaving Konoha for more _power. _To harness the power his curse-mark could give him. He fought best friend and teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, in the process, and his… _keepers _were killed by probably some of Konoha's best ninja."

Here Sakura paused again, and the confusion emanating from her teammates was now obvious. She continued, "Uzumaki embarked on a training journey with Jiraya, another Sannin, while Haruno Sakura started training with the last of the Sannin—Tsunade.

"Over two years later, Uzumaki returns…and three years after that, he is killed in a suicidal jutsu that backfired. By then Uchiha Sasuke had claimed one life, that of Choji's, member of Team Ten. Soon after, Hinata, Kakashi, Ino, and maybe even Shikamaru were all victims of Sasuke's…quest. He died, though; fighting his brother after killing at least two other of the organization his brother was part of. One year later… Konoha fell under the oto-nin."

-

It had only taken seconds after the end of her… story for the Uchiha's mind to connect what she had said with what the card had said, just minus a few details either way.

Either this was an extremely complex joke—he doubted it—or…

_Or she really knows what's going to happen._

_-_

Naruto had taken a couple seconds longer than Sasuke to connect the dots, but he came to the same conclusion anyway.

_Complex joke, or does she mean it?_

_-_

Sasuke was the first to speak, "And you know all this how?" He asked, disbelief evident on his normally blank features. "And…" He trailed off, probably thinking of asking about something Sakura had said, but rethinking it at the last moment. Sakura repressed a smile, despite the… importance? Of what she was telling them.

"Heh, I _am _that Sakura. The same one that killed Kabuto, the same one… the same one that watched Naruto die, the same one that found Sasuke's body." She paused, starting to wonder if her teammates _would _believe her. Maybe… "I killed Kabuto during the Last Invasion… and he killed me." Her voice was laced with bitterness. Whether from her hate of Kabuto in particular, or just the fact that she hated what _happened, _she didn't know.

The shock of both her teammates was evident; she didn't even have to turn around to visualize the look on their faces. Naruto would be staring at her, azure eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, while Sasuke would have a semi-blank face, trying to hide the fact that he was astonished, not only on the fact that she knew all of this, but had just told them she had died.

_Which one will be the first to speak up? _She wondered.

-

Sasuke didn't exactly know what to believe.

His spy theory?

Or that his teammate, had, in fact, lived two lives, and was trying to change the second. After, of course, being killed by a Konoha Shinobi… or what he _thought _was a Konoha Shinobi. Believing in Sakura meant that he had to believe he himself killed Konoha-nin, and more than one it seemed…

But, what motive would Sakura have to lie?

-

Naruto's thoughts were around the same idea as Sasuke's, but his were more focused on Sakura's knowledge of the future, and what she had been talking about with Kakashi-sensei.

So, that meant that Kakashi-sensei accepted Sakura's…story. He was a jounin, so he wouldn't… couldn't be fooled that easily, could he?

And the only other theory… well, Naruto had no other theory to explain Sakura's behavior… and knowledge… that would work. Sasuke, he admitted, would have an alternate explanation, but Naruto couldn't think of another.

Plus, why would Sakura-chan lie?

-

Sakura waited patiently for them to answer, aware that they had only one more day to finish, and that her teammates' acceptance of what she was telling them was essential for them to finish before the five-day mark.

She hoped they would believe her.

---

"Kabuto…"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto replied smoothly to the shadowy figure, adjusting his glasses with his forefinger. He was leaning against a pillar, looking out over the Forest of Death. He had finished early because the kunoichi remembered him, and probably wouldn't let her team anywhere near him.

Haruno Sakura… That was the topic of their discussion, he guessed. He had sensed the summoning, and the fact that Orochimaru was displeased… but with what? From what he had gathered, the curse mark was on the Uchiha, and the seal on Uzumaki. So, what was the problem?

"I found out something _very _interesting about Sakura today…" Orochimaru stated, still leaving the point to the discussion unknown. He shifted a bit so that the light fell onto his face, and so that he was looking directly at Kabuto.

Kabuto decided not to reply. He was in a very delicate position at the moment, and he knew it. It was apparent now that he was the source of Orochimaru's displeasure… but he was still foggy as to _why._

"I found out an extent to her… powers… that I didn't know she possessed, and a mastery of jutsu that I didn't know she knew. Tell me, Kabuto, why you didn't tell me of this before-hand." Orochimaru's voice was calm, but that only made him all the more unsettling.

"Maybe she acquired these… powers… without my knowledge?" Kabuto replied, purposely using Orochimaru's use of the word. Kabuto hadn't told Orochimaru everything he knew, but that was to be expected. The only thing he left out was the… _slug! _Of course, but he hadn't thought that she'd be able to, after being thrown back in time. So he had left that part out, as well as Uzumaki's summons. "I only fought her once, and that was when she 'killed' me." He pointed out, but even that wasn't true.

The Sannin kept looking at him, though, unblinking, before he abruptly turned. "Tell the truth, Kabuto, because if I am to find out you were—_are—_lying to me…" He left the sentence unfinished, then, moments later, disappeared.

Kabuto almost sighed with relief. If Orochimaru were to want to kill him, he wouldn't stand much of a chance as it was…

And it all funneled down to Sakura, didn't it? She had killed Kabuto, sending them both back in time. She had probably let the Demon of the Mist and his assistant go, and they killed a Kage, throwing the timeline off even more. She had surprised _him, _with a… _slug. _

This was getting a little more complicated than he had hoped for.

---

Naruto was already leaning towards believing Sakura, if only for the fact she knew about something that, from what he gathered, she shouldn't know about. The rest she could've made up, but when she was talking to Kakashi-sensei she had said, _'Naruto, with the help of Kyuubi's chakra, defeated Gaara…'_

The only way she would know about this was if she actually telling the truth.

So, then…

"S-Sakura-chan… I believe you."

-

The answer shocked Sasuke… but… didn't Naruto hear something at the ramen stand? That must have convinced him, but… and Kakashi-sensei believed her too, didn't he?

That must have convinced him… and the fact that it was the fourth day… they needed to finish.

Well, Sasuke would play along until he _really _believed her, if only for the fact that they needed to finish. "I… believe you." He gritted out, trying to make it sound genuine. He wasn't sure whether he believed her or not, and a part of him didn't _want _to believe her, if just for the fact that believing her meant he had to believe that everything he did he… _did._

Sakura turned, and the relief on her face was noticeable, as well as more than a little happiness. She rushed over and hugged both of her teammates at once, then abruptly let go.

She was blushing.

-

"We… well, we need to pack up our stuff and _move. _I'll explain the rest when we get to the tower." She said, heading towards the tree. She was acting as if nothing else had happened… but… nothing else _had _happened, though. She wasn't the one that was going to act weird. If it was going to be anyone, it was going to be her teammates.

Of course, blushing wasn't one of the things she had in mind when she had hugged them.

She supposed that Naruto and Sasuke would push everything that had just happed to the back of their minds, and that the rest of the 'Forest of Death' will be relatively uneventful. At least, that's what she hoped.

She really didn't want to explain everything until the Chunnin Exams were over, but that wouldn't work. Sasuke was… missing most of the next month, and she never got a straight answer for what he had been doing. Just that he had gotten insanely strong and fast in that time… at least, compared to her view at that time.

As she quickly packed up all of their… gear, with the help of her teammates, she got the distinct impression that Naruto wanted to talk to her alone, but she would have to address that later. The only thing she was unsure about was if her teammates would misuse her knowledge to try to win superfluous battles and fights; the Chunnin Exam Pre-Selection fights, for example.

She was pretty sure that her fear was groundless, but still…

-

As they took off into the undergrowth—they would travel by ground—Sasuke couldn't help but glance at Sakura. She had just dropped what could be considered a…bombshell on them, and she expected them to just push it to the back of their minds.

Even if she was telling the truth, that one action labeled her insane.

How could she expect them not to ask questions, demand what will happen. He had the key to beating Itachi… no. She was his _teammate, _not some milestone to his goal, no matter how much he wanted her to be.

The news she had given him… the fact that, in her mind, he had killed _Konoha-nin, _was only another example of how flawed his plan for his goal was. Even if she was imagining _everything, _she must have had a reason to imagine it.

Last year, for example, she had spent the entire class staring at Sasuke, the only time she had ever messed up in her academics, as far as he knew. After that, she was made to sit a little farther down from Sasuke in class, so she couldn't stare at him without Iruka-sensei noticing.

But on the day of the team-selection, she seemed to just… _grow… _a new personality. It was as if she wasn't… _Sakura _anymore.

If what she was saying was true, then that day was probably the day she woke up with this… dream? But before that, what could he have done that would've made her think he'd betray the village.

And more importantly, how could she have dreamed about both Orochimaru and the odd cut on his arm?

* * *

_Author's Note: Just in case you're wondering, the 'thing' that happened with the slug last chapter will come up later. I think. Laughs Maniacally _

_Okay then…_

_Note: I will be updating slower. It can't be helped. My house has one computer, and my dad is on the computer much more often in winter, and is on the least in summer. Also, I had time to write this week, but was too busy preparing for the SAT. School seems to get harder (More Homework) in the winter as well, but during Christmas break I should be able to write extra. _

_On average, you should expect an update (In the winter season) every 8, 7, 16, or 15 days, around 6 AM, for those are the times I get most time to write. Don't ask why. _

_After I finish the Chunnin Exams, (You're getting tired of hearing that), I'll go through all the chapters and correct any—__**any—**__mistakes. So, if you want to be beta-for-a-day…point out any mistakes in the entire story. (There's a lot of them…)._

_Yes, I borrowed the title for this chapter from S'TarKan's work, __**Team 8. **__I'm not sure what chapter it was, though. _

_Before you ask, yes, I did skip the encounter with Anko and Orochimaru. Sorry. My thought is that this story is rapidly going downhill, but all will be fixed… "After the Chunnin Exams" I would've kept this chapter for longer, but I wanted to post it. Hopefully, when I get some semblance of a plotline in my mind, I'll come back and write that encounter._

_Talking about that. Reviews really do—indirectly—shape the plot. They help me decide when to write, and my mood then affects the plot… because I have none!_

_These next Selection Battles… will be… wow. They'll be fun, fun, and FUN to write but so, so, and SO hard at the same time. I think…because they'll still have the 'pre-selection matches, just not the real thing until the Kage incident is sorted out._

_Right now, I'm listening to Alive by Da Buzz and Listen to Your Heart. My favorite songs! Huggles_

_Oh, and I forgot to reply to the reviews… I'll reply to __**all **__of them for this chapter._

_Ja ne_

_**MD**_


	17. Prelims Part I

_O-O… Hides_

* * *

_Chapter 17: Prelims Part I_

* * *

Akamaru was _still _trembling. 

Half-buried in Kiba's jacket, the small dog was constantly giving small whines that Kiba barely understood. They had recently passed by what could be described as a war-ground, with some of the giant trees felled and half of the branches ripped off the trees that were still standing. The bark was littered with burns and gouged out, creating dark holes in the trees. The place looked like it had been hit with a tornado, but by Akamaru's trembling and Shino and Hinata's observations, the…clearing had been a battleground between two or more clashing ninja, and recently. They were still in the vicinity.

_Not genin. _Kiba noted once again as the team passed another sign of battle, and a couple _things _on the ground that might've once been something living, perhaps a snake.

Akamaru was the only one in the team that sensed Sasuke's explosion of chakra.

-

Sakura was hoping, _hoping, _that they would reach the tower without any questions. She didn't feel that answering them right now would do any help, and she wanted the Forest of Death to be behind her if they were to ask anything.

She doubted it would work, but she had to try anyway.

-

Gaara's team had gotten back shortly before Team Seven, and Gaara once again had the sense that he knew the Uzumaki from somewhere before…

-

The members of Team Ten were making their way to the tower just as Team Seven arrived. Nothing seemed wrong with the team; they had ambushed a team several minutes before, and walked away with the team's scroll, which was the exact one they needed. They had only a few hours to get to the tower, but that wasn't a problem.

The problem was that Shikamaru was lost in thought, which wouldn't be that much of a problem if he hadn't have seen the battle between Orochimaru and Team Seven. In fact, his entire team saw the fight between the four. They hadn't stuck around afterwards, but that didn't matter. What was on Shikamaru's mind was the pure _power _of the battle. No average genin could do something like what Team Seven pulled off, no average genin could even come close to what their opponent managed to do.

-

Tsunade was angry. In fact, she was more than angry. How _dare _the casino not pay her? She had _won _no cheating, no problem. Well, there probably was going to be a problem, but she could deal with that later. The fact was, she won enough money to pay for at least a month of gambling.

And they _wouldn't pay her._

She was currently pacing around the small front room of the casino; Shizune was sitting on one of the bright red benches with TonTon, watching the reception desk as the man that _would've _given her the money sorted through papers.

"Well, this is new." The Sannin muttered under her breath, _I usually lose, but now I win, only to lose the money… yeah, this is definitely new._

-

Neji and the rest of his team were currently waiting for the other teams to finish, for the fifth day. While Tenten's and Lee's minds might have been wandering, Neji was concentrating on something else entirely.

Uzumaki and Uchiha.

Uzumaki he only gave fleeting thoughts to, it was Uchiha that demanded most of his mental attention. _How did he get that much chakra? _He couldn't think of an answer, and even Lee couldn't give him the appropriate input. When asked, he just shrugged, complimenting Team Seven for their courage and skill, admitting that he didn't know how Sasuke got that power.

_His team should finish, and I'll have another opportunity to see how he did that._

_-_

Team Seven arrived shortly after the Suna team, and Sakura immediately told them what to do, without even reading the wall. Her two teammates were slightly uneasy around her once the shock and unbelief wore off, and when Iruka appeared, he almost immediately knew something was wrong, but just figured they were tired, and sick of fighting the other teams.

-

As the teams lined up to be told about the preliminaries—there were eight teams in total—Kakashi noticed right away that his team looked like they had fought all the teams in the forest at once. But what was most alarming was the bandage around Sasuke's left arm, and the fact that a thin line of fresh blood was soaked through the white fabric. _Surely Sakura or the Medic-nin could've handled a scratch. _He thought, and that only increased his alarm. He suspected that Orochimaru got his hands—more specifically, his teeth—on Sasuke.

_It seems her plan didn't work._

He noted, glancing at Anko and then the Hokage, who was addressing the chunnin-potentials. "Even though the third part of the Chunnin Exams will not be held for three months, we are still going to hold a preliminary fight." There were scattered 'what's from the group below, and Hayate stepped forward.

"If any of you—"He broke off, coughing, "--want to quit, you can now."

Kakashi looked over the gathered genin from his spot with the other sensei. He spotted the silver-haired genin almost immediately, the sound-nin Sakura had mentioned earlier. Yakushi Kabuto. The sound-nin bowed out almost before the examiner had finished the question, walking away quickly and out through the doors.

-

All the teams scattered along the length of the viewing deck, the leaf-nin grouping together on one side, the sound teams and sand-nin on the other. Team Seven was closest to the stairs, right beside Team Eight. As soon as the teams were settled, the first match was announced.

"Tenten verses that weird Suna girl. Temari." Naruto commented, turning around to face Sakura. "So…" He started, and glanced over at Team Eight, who were all watching the fight take place… well, more of a lot of talking right then, because the match hadn't even truly begun. As Naruto hesitated, Sasuke finished his sentence for him.

"Who are we going to face?"

Kakashi looked from Sakura to Sasuke, _she must have told them, _he noted as Sakura shook her head. "I don't know." She said, "The preliminaries are all up to chance. You could end up facing Naruto, for all I know. Or me."

Sasuke, clearly not enjoying the idea of fighting his teammates, turned back to the fight, which was now going downhill for Tenten, and rested his hands on the guardrail. Kakashi took that chance to ask if what he suspected was right, "So," He started, realizing that he was starting the same way Naruto had, "Orochimaru _did _put the curse mark on Sasuke?" The question was directed at Sakura, but Sasuke answered, still watching the battle below. Naruto was clearly feeling sympathetic for the losing leaf-genin, wincing as the fight was brought to an abrupt halt and Tenten landed on the older girl's fan, unconscious.

"Hai." Sasuke held up his left arm, "But I don't know much about what it _does, _or how it's supposed to be dangerous…" He added with a meaningful look at Sakura.

Sakura expanded on what had happened as the next match was decided. "It wasn't applied right, I don't think, because the wound won't stop bleeding, and it won't heal." She paused, "He's not in any danger from loss of blood, it's not bleeding badly, but he is in danger of the curse mark itself, because I don't know if it was applied right. If it had been, it would be a lot less dangerous." Kakashi knew what she meant. He had no idea what a deficient curse mark may do, or if it was possible to seal one.

"Only use taijutsu in your next match." Kakashi warned Sasuke, just as the names on the screen came to a halt.

_Akimichi Choji vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

-

Choji was shocked, but as that faded and he faced his opponent, he gave himself up to his fate.

There was no way he was going to beat Uchiha Sasuke.

-

"Well, that warning came just in time." Naruto commented as Sasuke jumped down into the arena. He glanced at Sakura, who quickly replied to the unspoken question.

"No, he went up against a sound-nin…" She pointed at the two figures on the far side of the arena. "One of them…" She trailed off, unwilling to give any more information. Naruto didn't press her, however, because at that exact moment the fight started.

Sasuke lunged at his opponent, landing a kick before Choji could even think, let alone react. The Akimichi was thrown backward, and Sasuke followed up with another kick and a punch to the stomach, throwing Choji back even farther. The genin collapsed, and it looked like he was unconscious. Sasuke started to back away, and the examiner was about to declare the fight over, when Choji got back up. He struggled up, going through a set of handsigns before Sasuke could react, and _inflated, _his head and limbs disappearing as he rolled towards Sasuke.

-

Sasuke dodged out of the way of his opponent, cursing himself for being so stupid as to think the match over. It was going to be all the harder now that Sasuke couldn't get into close quarters with Choji, the chance of defeating him with taijutsu was almost impossible.

_But… "Only use taijutsu in your next match."_

_There must've been a reason for Kakashi-sensei to say that, but what harm would it do?_ He wondered, dodging out of the way again as the other genin rolled towards him. He knew that it would be only a matter of time if he kept this up, but would the Akimichi's chakra run out before his energy did? Sasuke knew—as he dodged yet again—that he couldn't dodge like that forever, even if his opponent had bad aim.

Then he remembered something… Choji hated, _hated, _to be called fat. And that would be how he would win.

-

Naruto watched in disbelief as his teammate proceeded to call Choji fat. He was acting very un-Sasuke-like, waving his hands and yelling out every version of the word 'fat' that he knew. Naruto heard Sakura behind him comment, "He's doing… _what_?" and could almost feel the astonishment coming off of his sensei. The entire arena was deathly quiet for a moment, then a large blur came hurtling towards Sasuke, who was cornered against the wall across from Naruto.

"He's… suicidal." Naruto heard Sakura whisper, and then Choji barreled into the wall just as Sasuke dodged with a chakra-powered leap over his opponent.

-

Once again, Sasuke's arm felt like it was on fire, even though all he did was wave it in the air. The jump was a close one; he had barely enough time to gather chakra to make the jump a possibility. And now, as he landed, both his legs and his left arm felt as if he had been caught in a fire jutsu. _Worry about that later. _He ordered himself, starting to go through handsigns as Choji recovered from his attack, _right now… will be the only time a jutsu will work. _Taking a deep breath, he blew out a plume of fire.

Only there was a problem.

His fire jutsu came out erratic, much like Naruto's had the day before. It was all he could do just to keep it in control enough not to _kill _Choji, but Sasuke noted that the other genin wasn't going to walk out of the arena after the match. The fire must've affected Choji—just like he had hoped—because the Akimichi was still. He ended the fire jutsu, his opponent unconscious, only to find that same power as in the forest welling up inside him again. He fought it down as Hayate declared the match over, and medics took a now-deflated Choji away.

He looked up at the teams, focusing on his team, and then Choji's team. Shikamaru was staring down at Sasuke, a thoughtful and bored expression on his face, and Ino looked as if she was unsure of what to do, who to support.

He turned and started to walk towards the stairs as the screen lit up for the next match, climbing up to stand with his teammates.

"You're Suicidal." Sakura commented as he got into earshot. Naruto said nothing, for he was staring at the screen as hard as he could, fingers crossed. He was shifting from one foot to the other, as if he needed to go to the bathroom.

"What are you _doing?" _Sasuke asked his teammate, and Naruto replied with a wine.

"What do you _think?_ I want to go next!" He said, drawing out the 'next' and closing his eyes.

_Tsuchi Kin vs. Inuzuka Kiba _

"Too late." Sasuke said, and Naruto opened his eyes and glared at the screen.

-

Sakura's attention was directed downward as the fight began, Kiba and Akamaru facing the sound-nin, a confident gleam in the Inuzuka's eyes. Akamaru was stationed beside him, and, as the battle began, Kiba was already half way through a jutsu._**Shikyaku no Jutsu.**_ Kiba appeared, only more feral-looking than normal, and he immediately launched himself at Kin, Akamaru right behind.

Kin acted almost on impulse, throwing four senbon at the approaching genin, who dodged easily. The senbon buried themselves in the wall opposite, the strings to the bells attached to her hand. She dodged the genin and his dog, dancing around to the other side of the arena.

-

Kin couldn't see anything. That leaf-genin had thrown a smoke-bomb at her shortly after she dodged, enveloping her in a cloud and effectively blinding her.

Her opponent, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly where she was. Something kept rushing by her, landing several blows on her each time. The strings to her senbon had been broken in the process, rendering her helpless and unable to launch an attack.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on her hearing, and distinguished the unmistakable sound of footsteps, getting louder by the second. She dodged, and found herself backed up against a wall in the process, something sharp poking at the back of her neck. _My senbon! _She mentally exclaimed, and as she sensed a lull in the attacks, she started to ring the bells attached to the multiple senbon behind her.

-

Kiba was about to launch another attack—the last one before the smoke cleared—when a sound caught his attention. It was a faint ringing sound, and as the smoke started to clear, he saw the culprit… or _culprits, _where the cloud had once been.

There were multiple Kins. Every Kin looked like the exact copy of the other; same bruises from his attacks, same hair, same everything.

Thinking that this was just a Bunshin trick, he launched towards her, only to feel the ground lurch beneath him and his vision waver, creating even more of his opponent. His mind started to falter, the sound of bells multiplying. He had one massive headache, and could barely move.

"Like them, huh?" He could hear her voice—multiple voices—over the bells, "I attached them to those senbon I threw earlier." _She's gloating!_

He tried to struggle to his feet, to attack the sound-nin, when there was a sudden screech from the other end of the field, and the sound of bells stopped. His mind immediately started to clear, and he looked up to find Akamaru fastened onto her leg, distracting her and giving Kiba time to counter-attack. He called Akamaru back, and, before she could get back to her bells, launched another jutsu.

**_Jūjin Bunshin_**

He launched towards her yet again, this time with Akamaru beside him. They both started to spin, and split up, Akamaru going in one direction, Kiba in the other, to come down on Kin from both directions. He noted that his opponent was clearly trying to ring the bells attached to the senbon, but he couldn't hear them right then.

-

The two barreled into the ground, leaving a gaping hole and a Kin in need of serious medical attention. As the screen flashed on, randomizing the next match, Sakura turned to find Naruto and Sasuke talking to Kakashi-sensei urgently. Naruto was gesturing wildly as he talked, and Sasuke was standing to his right, nodding slightly.

"Whatever you want to do to Sasuke, it might backfire! And what then? Sakura-chan said that this what-ever-it-is wasn't applied correctly, right?" Naruto paused, but if he was expecting an answer, he wasn't going to get one. He continued, "And what if it doesn't need to be sealed, at least not right now! I need my teammates to cheer me on when I win!"

-

Sasuke didn't agree with every point made by Naruto, but he still wanted to keep the mark, if just for a little while. He wanted to see what he could do with it without defecting, as Sakura had said. And if it wasn't applied right, why not? The seal might be more harmful that the curse-mark itself.

Plus, the mark could help with his quest to kill his brother.

He was slightly surprised to hear Sakura speak up in agreement; he had thought she was watching the preliminaries. "Naruto's right. It's best to do nothing right now; we need to know more first." She said, and he once again wondered if putting the issue at hand in the back of his mind was a good idea. He had the same view as Sakura probably did, address her claims of being from the future after the chunnin exams. The question asked earlier about the prelim matchups had been a test, and she had failed… at least in his eyes.

Kakashi-sensei nodded slowly, possibly seeing the reason in Sakura's words, "Fine." He said, looking past the group of genin. Sasuke and his teammates followed their sensei's gaze to the screen above, where it read:

_Hyuuga Hinata vs. Kinuta Dosu_

He heard Naruto let out a gasp and run to the railing, the match was already underway. Hinata and the sound-nin were in close quarters, each landing a blow on the other, Hinata's relatively soft, Dosu's not even hitting but still throwing her off balance.

"Sound waves versus chakra." He heard Kakashi-sensei murmur, as Dosu jumped out of the leaf-genin's reach.

"Go Hinata! Show him!"

-

Hinata knew she was at her limit, only getting close enough to her opponent to land the odd hit, and even those were by sure luck. It was just like her to get paired with a stronger opponent, one that could combat long-range. She almost didn't register Naruto's cry of encouragement, and even when she did, it only gave her a rush of happiness. Her inner ear was so messed up that she couldn't even see, let alone fight anymore, and her opponent knew it.

So with one more explosion that she knew was a sound wave, she collapsed.

-

Naruto might have been concentrating on Hinata, but he didn't miss the comment from another genin, who had somehow migrated, with his team, over to where Team Seven was stationed. It wasn't really even a comment, just an 'hmph' that sounded so much like Sasuke-teme that he wanted to punch the culprit. He turned to find a white-eyed Konoha-nin, possibly a relative of Hinata, looking as if he won the battle.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Naruto asked, and the Hyuuga turned his gaze on him for several unnerving seconds.

"She's a failure. And a failure will always be a failure." He finally said, turning his gaze away from Naruto.

Naruto started to protest, but Sakura got his attention. With a final glare at the Hyuuga, he turned to his teammate.

"You're up!" She said, and before she could continue, Naruto had jumped into the arena, turning to face one of the Suna-nin they had met before. What was his name? Kankura? Konaka? Kankuro?

And the fight began.

_

* * *

Notes:_

_**Shikyaku no Jutsu: **Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu_

_**Jūjin Bunshin: **Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: Man Beast Clone__

* * *

Author's Note: O-O… Hides_

_Gets dragged back out_

_Ummm hi, you probably don't remember me anymore… but I'm that girl that hasn't updated in a month… yeah, that's me._

_My random drawing for the participants of the prelims (For I did do a random drawing) decided that Naruto should've gone against Gaara._

_I decided that, if Naruto had gone against Gaara, there wouldn't be enough arena…. Or Naruto…. Left to continue the story._

_So I went for second-best._

_Thank'ee to all who reviewed._

_**MD**_


	18. Prelims Part 2

_**Disclaimer: I only own the plotline and Sakura's personality.**_

_I hope this ends up to be a good chapter... I'm not sure if... yeah..._

* * *

_Chapter 18: Prelims Part 2_

* * *

"Begin" 

Naruto immediately did a series of handsigns as the match started, creating his trademark Kage Bunshins to start the battle. It's how he dealt with everything, even though his new Katon jutsu was a close second. He, as well as two dozen other Narutos lunged at the Suna-nin, one of his Bunshins stopping to wait behind the attacking others, trying to look like he was the real Naruto. It was something he had learned in the past few weeks, something that would draw attention from the Bunshins and him to the 'real' Naruto trying not to get hurt.

-

_It's something_, Sakura-chan had stated, _that most opponents_, _at least the ones with no Kekkei Genkai to sense the real you, will fall for. And_, she had added, handing him a pack of explosion tags, _you can do some damage to your opponent as well._

-

If that was true, however, was about to be tested.

As the first Bunshin almost crashed into the Suna-nin, Naruto briefly wondered why the genin hadn't dodged. But moments after, he got his answer. The ninja seemed to explode, something vaguely representing a demented wooden doll shot out, heading directly for the 'real' Naruto in the back, the one that had stopped to wait. As the doll latched onto the Bunshin, it exploded, leaving a slightly blackened puppet in its wake.

This time, Naruto did retreat. As he did, creating more Bunshins to cover him, he noticed the real—or maybe it was another doll—Suna-nin on the viewing platform, scanning the mass of Bunshins below. He must be controlling that… thing. There was no other explanation. And he couldn't continue to hide behind his Kage Bunshins, that wouldn't be able to win this match.

-

Kankuro looked down just in time to see the barely perceptional movement backwards by the real-or what he assumed was the real-Naruto. It was pure luck, really, that he had looked at that spot at that exact moment, but as soon as he was convinced that Uzumaki was the real one, he sent his puppet flying after it, expertly manipulating his chakra strings connecting him to the puppet to propel it through the Kage Bunshins. He would have to continue to use this strategy. In a closed space like this, the poison gas would disperse throughout the air, poisoning everyone in the room, including him. But a poisoned blade…

-

Naruto noticed his opponent—Kankuro—focus on him barely a second before the puppet started to move. A second later, the puppet was almost on top of him, and he had barely any time to dodge out of the way before the puppet latched onto empty space where he once was.

-

_"Okay, sorry to sound like I'm lecturing you, but if you can think of a… sneakier strategy… you can win almost everything with your Kage Bunshin. The amount you can make, along with the endurance you have, can be very distracting while you put a better strategy into place. Be creative—sure, some opponents might be too smart to see through this, but for the ones that can't… for instance,"_ Sakura started, pointing at the map she had brought to training, _"If you do this…"_

-

Sasuke couldn't understand why Naruto wouldn't attack. All the orange genin seemed to be doing was dodging, countless Kage Bunshin being sacrificed in the process. He almost didn't notice one of the dozen Bunshin left start to edge towards the wall directly underneath the Suna-nin, the only reason he noticed was because it was the opposite wall. The Suna-nin would never notice.

"Remember when all we did one day was think up strategies?" Came Sakura's voice from beside him. He glanced over, a slightly questioning look on his face. She continued, "We did something like this—the opponent had a long-range weapon, and we had to figure out a way to distract him."

Sasuke looked back at the battle, thinking._ What does that have to_—before he had even finished the thought, the answer dawned on him. He looked back at Sakura, slightly impressed at what Naruto was planning to do. She just smiled slightly and turned back to the match, and Sasuke was left to wonder if he was wrong to be skeptical about Sakura's claim.

-

Naruto just hoped this would work.

It was shaky, at best, and any little thing could give his Bunshin away. But he figured the only way to put the puppet completely out of commission was to attack the puppet and the puppet's controller at the same time, so the puppet couldn't dodge, and his opponent couldn't do anything else to stop the destruction of the puppet. His opponent seemed to be contemplating something, as if he couldn't decide what to do.

If Kankuro was about to unveil some new attack, then Naruto would reveal his strategy.

-

Kakashi rarely missed anything. He rarely missed details, information, and even more important, the release date of the next Icha Icha book. And, therefore, he didn't miss the extra Bunshin slip away from the group and towards the wall.

The plan was suicidal at best. There was a great chance that the Bunshin wouldn't even make it, a greater chance that the Suna-nin would notice it, and an even greater chance that it wouldn't be great enough distraction to propel the plan forward.

Still, it seemed that Naruto was going to try it.

The Bunshin leapt upward performing an irregular fire jutsu aimed at the other genin, the flames fluctuating between large and small as it landed on the railing. The flames stopped, and with the Bunshin's last power, it knocked Kankuro from the viewing platform, disappearing as the ninja landed on the ground below.

At the same time, Naruto had preformed the biggest fire jutsu he could on the puppet. As soon as the Bunshin on the viewing platform stopped his jutsu, Naruto did as well; diving in with the rest of the Bunshins left to beat up on the puppet as much as they possibly could, focusing on the joints. Kakashi had by now revealed his Sharingan eye to see what was going on more closely… and yes, there it was. The flash of paper.

They were tying explosion tags to the puppet's joints.

-

Sakura leaned forward, hanging slightly over the railing of the viewing platform. Yes, he was doing what she thought he was doing.

-

Kankuro, regaining his senses and control of what remained of his puppet, stood up, reconnecting the chakra strings and bringing the puppet up, starting to extend the poisonous blade from the puppet's mouth. Just as it snapped into place, a flash of light and sound filled the room, and an orange blur rushed past him, almost brushing his arm.

A minute later, the blinding light faded, and a heap of wood and metal was left, the head positioned perfectly on top, the blade still extended.

-

Hayate was wondering if he should declare the fight over, seeing as one of the genin had lost their seemingly only weapon, and the other had been thrown against the wall hard enough to crack a skull when, from his vantage point, he saw the head of the puppet twitch, and the orange genin on the opposite wall start to get up.

"It seems the fight isn't over." He muttered, knowing that this would probably be the final blow.

-

Sakura gave a sigh of relief. It seems that Naruto was about to win. She glanced around the arena, trying to clear the spots from her eyes, the side effects of the explosion evident on everyone except Shino, his dark glasses dulling the effects of the flash. He probably was still affected, but not enough to be bothered by.

She almost envied him. (_Had to put it, sorry)_

-

Naruto knew that he had to end the fight. Now. He was very beat up, he hadn't gotten out of the way of the explosion in time, but his opponent had lost his seemingly only weapon. Gathering up his strength, Naruto charged for the genin's back, kunai in hand, only to notice that something was coming to intercept him.

The head of the puppet he had seemingly destroyed.

-

Kankuro spun to face the orange genin as he drove the head of his puppet towards the leaf-nin, causing the genin to block with the kunai in hand.

The match wasn't over.

-

Tsunade swore—_swore_—she was going to strangle this person's neck.

She had finally got her money, then this; this person decides to rob her.

This was definitely not a good day for the Sannin.

-

Naruto blocked the extended blade, just managing to slide it up over his head and avoid the point of the blade. As it passed over him, he swore he saw something drip off the tip of it, like poison. He leapt back, and the head of the puppet followed him.

Panicking, or maybe just wanting to end the fight, Naruto brought out the entire pack of explosion tags, the same ones that Sakura had given him, which he had kept for an emergency, tending to use the other packs instead of the one that was now in his hand.

Keeping the wire that he held them together on, he lit the tops of every one with chakra, waiting several seconds then hurling it at the puppet.

-

Above, on the viewing platform, everyone saw this and shielded their eyes in one way or another.

---

Naruto made his way up to the rest of his team, battered and bruised, but still in one piece. After the puppet's head had been split in two, Kankuro had given up, realizing that he wouldn't be able to win. The puppet manipulator had gathered up the broken pieces of his puppet and left, probably to go piece it together again, if he could.

Naruto was lucky, he realized, that he had been well-stocked with kunai, shurikens, and explosion tags—which he usually never used—before the battle. If he hadn't, the match would've been much harder.

His teammates, still rubbing their eyes, accepted his win with a barely noticeable nod from Sasuke and a muttered "good job" from Sakura. The next match was already being chosen, the remaining names on the screen randomizing.

"Akado Yoroi verses Haruno Sakura… Sakura-chan! It's your turn!" Naruto said, turning as she passed. "Good luck!"

She nodded and continued down the stairs and into the arena below.

-

_He's part of Kabuto's team, isn't he? _Sakura asked herself, already full aware of the answer. _And he went up against Sasuke last time… I think. _

"Begin."

Sakura knew she could finish this battle quickly, her superior strength and her knowledge of his fighting techniques. And that was exactly what she was planning to do.

-

Naruto leaned over the railing, much like Sakura was doing earlier, to watch the match. As the match began, Sakura was already moving towards her opponent. She created a Kage Bunshin as she ran, relying both running side-by-side. Suddenly, one stopped, and the other one plowed into the oto-nin, fist outstretched. The ninja shot backward several feet before regaining his footing and propelling a glowing hand into Sakura, who disappeared in a poof of smoke.

The real Sakura paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment, then launched forward, dodging the oto-nin's glowing hands. Jumping back out of the way of the sound-nin's hands, the kunoichi changed direction on a dime, landing a—_glowing?—_punch on the sound-nin, who flew backwards. He landed on the opposite wall, half-conscious.

The match was over.

-

Sasuke watched with mild amazement as Sakura walked back up the stairs, relatively unharmed. Naruto immediately started to congratulate her, which she accepted with a couple muttered 'thank you's.

-

Sakura had been angry at Kabuto. She still was, immensely, but that match had alleviated some of her immediate anger, which might have—would have—made her make a bad decision down the road. Her body was _still _unused to the amount of chakra that she should've been able to expel, but she had won with little difficulty, and now the next matchups were being decided.

While she held no fear for her teammates, she still worried about the rest of the Konoha Twelve, and hoped that none of the others would get paired with Gaara. He would crush them, literally, like he tried to do with Lee. If any of her friends got caught in his sand attacks… She glanced up at the screen, and gasped.

_Ino Yamanaka __vs. Sabaku no Gaara_

* * *

_Hey! Okay, for those that noticed (Or read ArmorofGeddon's review); Hinata should have won that last battle. And I agree that she should've won that last battle, but I'm not good with Hinata, and I need something else for the plot (or the broken and scattered pieces slightly resembling the remains of a plot) to run smoothly._

_Cries Okay, so I decided to redo the random drawings the other day, making my friends pick numbers that would decide who went up against who in the next rounds. Like last drawing, my favorite characters were paired together…. Again! It must be a sign or something, even though one can beat the other…. I think._

_Thanks go out to ArmorofGeddon! Thanks to an insightful information-leeching, I now know many of the matchups and who will win against whom if I put them against each other. I would like to share something I enjoyed from those PMs about one of the pairings of my favorite character (I will remove it if you want me too, ArmorofGeddon. Oh, and can't you tell I don't like Ino?)_

_"[Shino vs. Ino - Assuming Ino even has the nerve to approach someone who is a living insect hive, she still loses horribly. Even if she could catch him with herShintenshin (unlikely as his bugs could free him from the hair trap), beforebeing possessed he could order his bugs to begin biting him badly so that Inowould be hurt herself and would flee from his body due to the pain (again, assuming she could even stand to be in a body that is a living insect nest)."_

_Shino is by far the most bestest character in the show. Huggles …Even though Ino is one of the easy matches… Anyone know the episode #s that he makes major appearances/fights in? ((Or good fanfiction with him?))_

_Sorry, I just liked imagining that matchup, and how it would be like to write that. Actually, ArmorofGeddon's helpful analysis on the prelims and the finals has inspired me greatly in my writing. The only reason this is out kinda late is the amount of project homework and Warriors roleplaying I've been doing. (I've found that Neopets is more literate than Gaia, the teen's site. Sad, isn't it? Neopets is also more fast-paced, for you don't need in-depth plots that the illiterates will only mess up. In Neopets, you're either semi-literate or pretty much ignored. In Gaia, it's too slow-paced and not literate enough to even be worth it.)_

_Ja ne!_

_Moonlit Dawn_


	19. Chapter

**_This Fic is on hold for several months. I have to deal with something, and that has been the reason I haven't updated for a month. Trust me, this fic will be continued, but not for a few months._**

**_Hey, look on the bright side. By the time I come back (April-May I'm hoping), I probibly will have come up with a plot (A real one), and got all of my back/side stories done. (Like the character deaths.)_**

**_Thanks for all of your support, and I repeat, I will finish this, you have my word. I just... don't know when. I'll start again before next summer break, though._**

**

* * *

Ja ne,**

**_Moonlit Dawn_**


	20. Prelims Part III

__

... I AM SO STUPID! There was somthing I completely ignored that happened in previous chapters... I'll fix it after school...this is what happens when you don't write on the story for two months...

* * *

_**Prelims Part 3**_

Sakura could see Ino hesitate a bit as she descended the stairs to the arena. Gaara was already there, he had used his sand to teleport himself downward. Sakura couldn't imagine what was going through Ino's head, was she going to give up when she realized how strong Gaara was?

She hoped so.

-

Ino wanted to impress Sasuke-kun and outdo Sakura, but at what cost? She knew this genin was strong, if his teammates were anything like him. And some small part of her was telling her to quit before something bad happened, but she ignored it. She would at least give the match a try, if she could capture the sand-nin—_Gaara?—_in a **Shintenshin no Jutsu, **she would probably be able to win.

_If, could, and probably. _She was unsure of herself against this opponent. More than unsure of herself, she was _afraid. _From the uneasy looks that Team Eight gave the Suna team, to the fact that Sakura had warned her to give up as she passed, she wasn't so sure that she was making the right choice to fight him.

-

Sakura ran a hand through her pink hair as the match began, something she rarely did when around her teammates. She was worried, and she was trying to figure out if there was any way that she could end the match between the genin. She had warned Ino not to do it, but she hadn't exactly expected that to work. Sasuke didn't have time to try to get Ino to back out…

Just as she turned to ask Kakashi-sensei to get Ino out of there, the match began.

-

Ino didn't even wait for the match to officially begin before readying herself to fight Gaara—readying herself for the use of her family's jutsu. As soon as 'begin' left the examiner's lips, Ino did the jutsu, hoping to catch the sand-nin off guard.

-

She did. Yamanaka Ino collapsed, and Gaara seemed to stiffen, then relax. That wasn't a bad sign, but it wasn't a good sign either. Sakura watched for a full minute before either the sand-nin or Ino did anything. Gaara seemed to snap out of some kind of daze…

… And Ino started to scream.

-

Kakashi didn't even need Sakura's prompting to jump down and end the match. As soon as he saw the sand start to move, he knew what Gaara was going to do by the descriptions of his students and some of the jounin that had been in the Forest of Death. He had no idea what effect Gaara—with the demon inside him—would have on the Yamanaka, and he mentally slapped himself for not stopping the fight sooner.

As he jumped down, so did Gai. They both stood in front of Ino, Kakashi locking gazes with the sand-nin, which took a surprising amount of effort. The boy finally spoke when Gai picked up Ino and put her in the care of the medic-nin, where the calmed down and seemed to be sleeping, "Why wouldn't you let me kill her?" He asked.

_You said __**Naruto **__could beat this person?! __**I **__might even be hard-pressed to beat him…_

Gaara barely waited for an answer, instead turning and walking back up the stairs to his team, not saying a word to them and his teammates not saying anything to him. They all seemed unfazed.

-

Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything when he got back to where Team Seven were stationed, and he didn't need too. Naruto was just staring at the sand-nin, and Sakura seemed very worried, almost scared, about what will happen to Ino. Sasuke was also looking towards Gaara, but not with nearly as much hate and killer intent in his gaze as Naruto. Sasuke was trying to figure out more about the sand-nin, knowing that there was a great chance that this person would meet one of his teammates in the next rounds.

_Nara Shikamaru vs. Aburame Shino_

_-_

Shikamaru slowly walked down the stairs to his match—_one I'll probably lose—_he thought, barely listening when Hayate called for the match to start. He wasn't paying much attention to his opponent either, who was no doubt preparing to fight him. What he was really doing was thinking up a strategy, not like it would help much. As far as he could tell, the best he could hope for was a tie.

His **Kagemane no Jutsu** wouldn't be able to stop the bugs, and the Kikai would drain off his chakra before Shikamaru could knock Shino out and win the match. A tie wasn't enough to fight the Aburame for, in his opinion. And, so far, Shikamaru could only think of several strategies that would even end in a tie, the rest would end in failure. _Oh well… how troublesome…_

"I give up." Shikamaru said, raising his hand in surrender.

-

"Hey… why'd you do that, Shikamaru?! Why didn't you even _try _to fight him?" Naruto asked as the genin passed, apparently disappointed in the fact that Shikamaru decided to give up before he could see _any _fighting at all, "This fight and the last one have been boring—why can't they pair people up more evenly so we can see them fight!?" He muttered as he turned back to the rest of his team.

Sakura was thinking about the last match and the one before it too, but for another reason than Naruto. _Shikamaru won't advance… that means that he won't become a chunnin… almost everything changes… _She wasn't as worried about that match—she was there to change things, and maybe Shikamaru will find some other way to become a chunnin. What she was really worried about was the fact that Ino looked like she was in a coma when the medic-nin took her out of the prelim room.

She had an Idea what happened to Ino, and was glad that Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei had interrupted the fight before Gaara had time to crush the Yamanaka, but the only problem was she didn't think anyone—other than her, some of the sand-nin, and a few of the sound-nin—even suspected what had happened, and because of that, they might not be able to wake Ino up.

Sakura was so troubled by her thoughts; she missed the start of the next match... which was pretty much the end of the next match, as well.

-

Lee immediately recognized his opponent—it was one of the three that he had fought in the Forest of Death. Lee wasn't one to get angry with people, but he wasted no time beating this 'Zaku' person. It was pretty easy to beat him, too. All the spandex-clad genin had to do was punch the sound-nin a couple of times, and the match was declared won.

-

"Why aren't there any good fights?… all we have left is that Hyuuga over there, and that weird ninja over there… the one that's teammates with the one you fought, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, shifting from foot to foot in impatience. "I can't wait to see what happens after the preliminaries. I wonder who I'll be fighting."

"You might end up fighting me." Sasuke said, leaning over the railing, waiting for the match to begin.

"Then I can't wait!" Naruto said, loud enough to earn a glance from the competitors below.

Hayate ignored the genin's outburst from above, "Begin."

-

_A few Jyuuken strikes… _Neji thought, observing his opponent in the few moments before the match began. He had no idea what this genin's particular talent was, but he could find his opponent's tenketsu (sp?) points pretty easily_. _Before the match even began, Neji had his Byakugan activated for the fight ahead.

-

Sakura was the only one on Team Eight not to be even slightly caught off guard when Neji's opponent suddenly grew longer and much more flexible than usual. Naruto muttered something about 'good fights' and Sasuke leaned a little farther over the rail in interest. The sound-nin (who everyone thought was loyal to Konoha) sped forward, only to suddenly stop when Neji seemingly just touched his opponent on one of his elongated arms. Then Neji struck again, and again, and again at the genin, who had now stopped his advance and was about to jump backward.

When the sound-nin jumped back, most of him went back to his original size. Several spots along his arms remained elongated—but now also limp—as well as his hands, making him look deformed, even when he wasn't using his jutsu. "What did you do to my arms!?" He demanded, but the Hyuuga didn't reply.

That's when the sound-nin made the fatal mistake of going back into close combat with Neji, trying to strangle him without the use of his arms.

A couple more Jyuuken strikes from Neji, and the sound-nin was knocked out. The last of the preliminary fights was over.

-

As Team Seven left the tower and started for their homes, Kakashi stopped and turned to Sakura. "I'm going to try and see if I can seal that thing Orochimaru put on Sasuke's arm." He said simply, and, motioning for Sasuke to follow him, took off in another direction.

-

"You wanted to talk to me?" Sakura asked, interrupting the silence that had dragged on since Kakashi-sensei left with Sasuke to try and see if he could seal Orochimaru's Curse Seal. Naruto paused, and then turned into an apartment building, expecting Sakura to follow. He then led the way to his own apartment and closed the door as soon as Sakura entered.

"Well?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked. _I shouldn't answer any questions…_

"Kyuubi." Naruto said after a moment, staring at the ground, "I heard you talking about it… so… you know?" It took Sakura a moment to process what he said, and what exactly he was talking about, and when he could've overheard her. _Of course, the ramen… right before the forest of death! No wonder…_

Sakura didn't reply for a moment, thinking about what she would say as an answer, "Hai, I know." She finally responded, "And I don't hate you for it, either. The other villager's problem is that they think you _are _the Kyuubi, not just its jailor. There's a difference, obviously. You were the one that told me about it, too."

"I… know that—about the villagers." Naruto replied, "And you don't care?" He looked up, and then added, "I never put you in any danger?"

Sakura didn't reply immediately… his own death was in part caused by Kyuubi, and several times Sakura had been caught in a jutsu on accident when Naruto was drawing on the extra chakra, but that was more of her fault. She had known better, and it never had hurt her much, actually, she usually was hurt more in battle than getting caught on the edge of a jutsu.

"Not really…" She said, then turned and started to leave, "But shouldn't we be training for the third exam? I know we have a lot of time, but… every contestant has to train during this time to get the upper hand! And, so that I can start training early, I'm going home and then to bed." She hoped Naruto would get the hint and not ask her any more questions, she didn't really want to answer anything else… she didn't want Naruto to do anything stupid because of something she told him.

-

Sakura left her blond teammate behind as she walked slowly to her house. She really hadn't expected that Naruto overheard _that _much of the conversation between her and Kakashi at Ichiraku's, but, then again, she hadn't expected to tell her teammates about her… memories until after the exams. Nothing seemed to be going the way she had expected it too.

Reaching her house, she entered, answering her mom's worried questions—"Where have you been? Are you hurt? Was that young Uchiha hurt? What's wrong, sweetie, don't you want to tell me what happened? Did you pass the exam?"—and then climbing up to her small bedroom on the second floor.

She locked the door behind her, and then pulled out the piece of paper she had received shortly after the last preliminary match. She also had Sasuke's with her, and would bring it to him later. Right now, though, Sakura reread the matchups for what seemed like the hundredth time, struck, once again, by how much a couple of the—supposedly random—pairings were like previous matchups.

_**Sakura vs. Dosu**_

_**Kiba vs. Shino**_

_**Sasuke vs. Temari**_

_**Naruto vs. Neji**_

_**Lee vs. Gaara**_

Lee verses Gaara… the one that bothered her the most. There was a chance that the Sound attack would start before the fight was finished, and Lee would be an asset to the Konoha forces. On the other hand, however, there was also the possibility that the result of the fight would be like—or even worse than—the first Lee and Gaara match.

Naruto verses Neji and Sasuke verses Temari didn't really bother her—Naruto had proved that he could beat the Hyuuga prodigy before, and Sasuke wouldn't be in any fatal danger in his fight. Kiba and Shino would never fatally—or even seriously—injure each other, and she wasn't concerned at all about her own fight—Dosu wasn't exactly a threat.

_My real problem is, however, _she thought as she put down the paper, _what the Hokage will think when I tell him about the Sound and Sand invasion._

* * *

A/N: Um… the fights were extremely hard to write, despite the fact that they weren't very… ah… fightsy. I hope you like it…

Ja ne

Moonlit Dawn


End file.
